Measurement of natural killer cell progenitor activity in culture.

Natural killer cells are morphologically related to and have progenitors in common with B and T lymphocytes. In this unit, protocols describe how to induce natural killer cell differentiation from prolymphocytes. Since NK cell differentiation cultures also support B cell differentiation, this protocol is extremely useful for seeking the B and NK cell branch point in their differentiation pathway. Keywords: Natural killer cells; progenitors; differentiation; culture; cytokine