NATURAL KILLER CELLS (NK CELLS)

Natural killer (NK) cells are a type of white blood cells belonging to the group of lympocytes that destroy infected cells and cancer cells in your body. NK cells are best known for killing cells infected with viruses and for detecting & controlling early signs of cancer. Specialized NK cells are found in placenta & play an important role during pregnancy. Patients suffering from HIV-1 infection show a gradual loss of NK cells that correlates with disease progression. There are 2 subsets of NK cells namely CD3 & CD16/56 and both are detected by this test.