Role of natural killer (NK) cells in the control of tumor growth and metastatic spread

Intensive studies of antitumor resistance during the last 25 years have revealed that some tumors in experimental animals can evoke high levels of immune responses against tumor-associated antigens. This immunological response was mostly mediated by T lymphocytes and was found to be extremely efficient in the specific destruction of the tumor target cells in vitro and in inhibsition of tumor growth and metastatic spread [5, 23, 78, 82].