title: Interleukin-15 promotes the growth of leukemic cells of patients with B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders.
abstract: The recently discovered cytokine, interleukin-15 (IL-15), has been demonstrated to share several biologic properties with IL-2 in different cell systems, including T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell compartments. As for B lymphocytes, IL-15 has been shown to provide stimulatory activities in normal preactivated B cells that are mainly transduced through IL- 2 receptor (IL-2R) complex components. Since leukemic B cells from patients with chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (CLD) bear IL-2R and grow in response to IL-2, we investigated whether IL-15 triggers the proliferation of malignant B cells obtained from 12 patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) and five patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL). Enriched B cells recovered from five healthy subjects were also studied as controls. IL-15 stimulated the proliferation of freshly isolated leukemic B cells, but not resting normal B lymphocytes, the latter being able to grow in the presence of IL-15 only after in vitro preactivation with phorbol myristate acetate. The proliferation elicited by IL-2 on leukemic cells was comparable to that determined by IL-15. Following addition of graded concentrations of IL-15 to low/intermediate-dose IL-2, resting leukemic B cells showed a higher stimulatory rate than that observed using the two cytokines separately. In normal resting B lymphocytes, this cumulative effect was not observed. The role of different IL-2R subunits in IL-15-driven growth of malignant B cells was investigated both by their expression on leukemic cells and by the block of different IL-2R subunits (p55, p75, and p64) with specific monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs). Using flow cytometry and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analyses we demonstrated that both B-CLL and HCL leukemic B cells express the beta and gamma chains of the IL-2R system. The stimulatory activity achieved by IL-15 decreased significantly, blocking the beta and gamma chains of the IL-2R. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that IL-15 triggers the growth of leukemic B cells through IL-2R system subunits, pointing to the role of this novel cytokine in regulating the neoplastic proliferation in CLD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Padua University School of Medicine, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trentin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cerutti
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zambello
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sancretta
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tassinari
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Facco
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Adami
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rodeghiero
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Agostini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Semenzato
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019409:Interleukin-15; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000494:pharmacology; D007378:Interleukins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007943:Leukemia, Hairy Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D019409:Interleukin-15; D007376:Interleukin-2; D007378:Interleukins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate