A progenitor committed to the natural killer cell lineage, expressing certain phenotypic markers of the natural killer cell lineage such as the IL-15 receptor, but lacking many of the phenotypic characteristics of later stages of natural killer cell development such as expression of NK activating and inhibitory molecules. [ http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/CL_curator ]
Synonyms: NKP pro-natural killer cell natural killer cell progenitor