KLRK1 and viral infectious disease: Herein, we briefly overview the NKG2D receptor-ligand axis in humans, explore the levels at which NKG2D-L regulation/dysregulation occurs, and discuss how clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based technologies are poised to harness NKG2D-mediated immunity in the analogous contexts of oncogenic transformation and viral infection.