In contrast, for tumor cells that express abundant other NK-activating ligands, and either do not express NKG2D ligands (e.g. RMA-S and B16 cells), or depend little on NKG2D ligands for NK killing, the global desensitization of NK cells caused by NKG2D interactions with host ligands is predicted to exert a dominant effect. The gene discussed is KLRK1; the disease is neoplasm.