BACKGROUND Interleukin 15 (IL-15) activates cytotoxic lymphocytes and drives the expansion of memory T cells. Its role in immune control of virus-transformed cells and other tumor cells remains to be elucidated. We investigated the role of IL-15 in controlling Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed/immortalized lymphocytes in culture. EBV is a highly potent lymphocyte-transforming and opportunist...

Interleukin-15 (IL-15) induces proliferation and promotes cell survival of human T and B lymphocytes, natural killer cells, and neutrophils. Here we report the constitutive expression of a functional IL-15 receptor (IL-15R) in 6 of 6 myeloma cell lines and in CD38(high)/CD45(low )plasma cells belonging to 14 of 14 patients with multiple myeloma. Furthermore, we detected IL-15 transcripts in all...

In this study we investigated the role of interleukin-15 (IL-15) in the immunobiology of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) cells. Using cell culture techniques, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and immunhistochemistry we found that IL-15, like IL-7, is a growth factor for the Sézary cell line SeAx and that both cytokines prolonged the survival of malignant T cells direct...

Cytokines may have clinical utility as therapeutic agents for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection and as an adjuvant for vaccines. The effect of interleukin-12 (IL-12) and IL-15 on in vitro HIV-1 replication was investigated. IL-12 and IL-15 at doses up to 10 ng/ml had little effect on basal HIV-1 p24 antigen production by chronically HIV-infected T (ACH-2) and monocytic (U1) ...

Increased serum levels of IL-15 are reported in type 1 diabetes (T1D). Here we report elevated serum soluble IL-15Rα levels in human T1D. To investigate the role of IL-15/IL-15Rα in the pathogenesis of T1D, we generated double transgenic mice with pancreatic β-cell expression of IL-15 and IL-15Rα. The mice developed hyperglycemia, marked mononuclear cell infiltration, β-cell destruction, and an...

We provide detailed datasets from our analysis of the proteins that associate with IL-2Rβ and IL-2Rγ in T-cells stimulated with IL-2 or IL-15 compared with resting T-cells, as identified by SILAC-based quantitative proteomics. We also include quantitative data regarding site-specific phosphorylation events observed both in IL-2Rβ and IL-2Rγ. Moreover, we provide results demonstrating the specif...

The recently cloned cytokine interleukin-15 (IL-15) shares several functional activities with IL-2 in different cell systems. Although IL-15 does not show sequence homology with IL-2, it uses components of the IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) for binding and signal transduction, namely, p75 (beta) and the p64 (gamma) chains of IL-2R. To evaluate whether IL-15 is involved in the activation of granular lymp...