Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Government Funding Lapse
Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov.

lymphokine-activated killer cells

Killer cell lymphocytes activated in the presence of interleukin-2 (IL-2). Lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAKs) are cytotoxic effector cells with an exceptionally wide target cell spectrum including normal and malignant cells of different origins. LAK cells exhibit a profound heterogeneity with regard to phenotype surface marker expression; it remains to be determined if they represent a unique cell lineage.
Synonym:therapeutic lymphokine-activated killer cells
Abbreviation:LAK
LAK cells
Search NCI's Drug Dictionary