Intraindividual heterogeneity of malignant cells can also impair NKG2D-mediated tumor clearance: a recent study by Paczulla et al. showed that malignant cells of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients are heterogeneous for NKG2DL expression with leukemic stem cells (LSC) being devoid of NKG2DL and therefore resistant to NK cell-mediated elimination (100). The gene discussed is KLRK1; the disease is acute myeloid leukemia.