Indeed, using Boolean gating and Simplified Presentation of Incredibly Complex Evaluations software84 to assess the degree of NK cell polyfunctionality, patients with S. aureus bacteremia displayed a higher proportion of polyfunctional CD56dim NK cells and fewer unresponsive CD56dim NK cells (CD107a− IFN-γ− TNF-α−) compared to healthy controls (Fig. 6C). Here, TNF is linked to bacterial infectious disease with sepsis.