title: Human monocytes constitutively express membrane-bound, biologically active, and interferon-gamma-upregulated interleukin-15.
abstract: Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a potent regulator of T-, B-, and natural killer cell proliferation and displays unusually tight controls of secretion. Even though IL-15 mRNA is constitutively expressed in monocytes/macrophages and is upregulated by a variety of stimuli, evidence for IL-15 cytokine secretion is only found exceptionally, eg, conditions of pathological, chronic inflammation. This raises the possibility that monocytes express membrane-bound IL-15 rather than secrete it. The current study explores this hypothesis. We demonstrate here that biologically active IL-15 is indeed detectable in a constitutively expressed, membrane-bound form on normal human monocytes, as well as on monocytic cell lines (MONO-MAC-6, THP-1, and U937), but not on human T or B cells (MT4, M9, C5966, JURKAT, DAUDI, RAJI, and Epstein-Barr virus-immortalized B-cell clones). Furthermore, cell surface-bound IL-15 is upregulated upon interferon-gamma stimulation. Interestingly, monocyte/macrophage inhibitory cytokines such as IL-4 and IL-13 fail to downregulate both constitutive and induced cell-surface expression of IL-15. Membrane-bound IL-15 does not elute with acetate buffer or trypsin treatment, suggesting that it is an integral membrane protein and that it is not associated with the IL-15 receptor complex. Finally, membrane-bound IL-15 stimulates T lymphocytes to proliferate in vitro, indicating that it is biologically active. These findings enlist IL-15 in the fairly small family of cytokines for which the presence of a biologically active membrane-bound form has been demonstrated (eg, IL-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and IL-10) and invites the speculation that most of the biological effects of IL-15 under physiological conditions are exerted by the cell surface-bound form.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Microbiology, Postgraduate School of Clinical Pathology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy. musso@molinette.unito.it
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Musso
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calosso
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zucca
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Millesimo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ravarino
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giovarelli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Malavasi
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Ponzi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paus
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bulfone-Paus
mesh_terms: D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000494:pharmacology; D018793:Interleukin-13 / Q000494:pharmacology; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000494:pharmacology; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology; D009000:Monocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D020298:U937 Cells
chemical_list: D018793:Interleukin-13; D019409:Interleukin-15; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D016753:Interleukin-10; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma