A model system was developed to study the role of cell surface oligosaccharides in cytotoxicity mediated by natural killer (NK) cells. Polymeric glycoconjugates Glyc-PAA-PE and Glyc-PAA(Flu)-PE (where Glyc is the 3-aminopropyl Le(x) residue, PAA is the poly(N-2-hydroxyethylacrylamide) matrix, Flu is the residue of a fluorescein derivative, and PE is the phosphatidylethanolamine residue) were synthesized, and their association with the membranes of living K562 cells was studied.