At diagnosis, circulating NK cells from GIST patients (compared with healthy volunteers) exhibited a selective down-regulation of one particular type of stimulatory NK cell receptor, NKp30, but not that of another type, NKG2D, and this NKp30 down-regulation was only partially restored by IM (Menard et al., 2009). This evidence concerns the gene NCR3 and gastrointestinal stromal tumor.