Interleukin-15 and its role in chronic inflammatory diseases.
This review focuses on the biological effects of the newly discovered cytokine, interleukin 15 (IL-15), in chronic inflammatory disorders. IL-15 shares biological activities with IL-2, and like IL-2 it is a member of the four-helix bundle cytokine family. IL-15 interacts with a heterotrimeric receptor that consists of the beta and gamma subunits of the IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) as well as a specific, high-affinity IL-15-binding subunit, IL-1SRalpha. IL-15 is produced by macrophages and various other cells in response to environmental stimuli and infectious agents, and it is important for the growth and differentiation of T and B lymphocytes, natural killer cells, macrophages, and monocytes as well as it activates a number of important intracellular signaling molecules, including the Janus kinases and members of the transcription factor family of signal transducers and activators of transcription. These facts suggest that IL- 15 may play a pivotal role both in protective immune responses and in the pathogenesis of various chronic immuno-inflammatory disorders. The important new insight into the role of IL-15 in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis, chronic hepatitis C, and ulcerative colitis are reviewed in this paper.
The James Buchanan Brady Foundation, Department of Urology, Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
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Kirman
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Vainer
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Nielsen
D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000502:physiology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology
D019409:Interleukin-15