title: Spontaneous programmed cell death of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV-infected persons is decreased with interleukin-15.
abstract: Interleukin 15 (IL-15) is an important regulatory cytokine in cellular immunity. In vitro replacement of IL-15 has been shown to enhance immunity in Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infected lymphocytes. We evaluated the effect of IL-15 on the survival of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of HIV patients by examining in vitro lymphocyte apoptosis, and correlated the process with Bcl-2 and Fas gene regulation. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 21 HIV-infected adults and 24 HIV-seronegative healthy individuals were isolated and cultured to determine the effect of escalating doses of IL-15 (0, 1, 10, 100, 1000 ng/mL) on apoptosis. Lymphocyte proliferation assay with (3H) TdR was measured and Bcl-2 and Fas gene regulation was observed. The results were as follows: 1) IL-15 reduced culture induced lymphocyte apoptosis in HIV patients in a dose dependent manner, and reached a plateau level at a concentration of 100 ng/ml; 2) IL-15 significantly reduced the level of apoptosis after 3 days (14%) and 5 days (15%) of culture in HIV patients, while no difference was observed in HIV (-) donors; 3) The percentage of viable cells among the total number of lymphocytes was significantly enhanced by 25% in HIV patients with IL-15; 4) Bcl-2 expression was decreased in HIV patients (53.9 +/- 12.3%) compared to HIV (-) donors (93.0 +/- 3.7%), and IL-15 increased Bcl-2 expression by 21.2 +/- 5.2% in HIV patients; 5) Fas expression was increased in HIV patients (70.2 +/- 4.6%) compared to HIV (-) donors (32.4 +/- 4.3%), and IL-15 increased Fas expression by 8.4 +/- 1.2% in HIV (-) donors. Our findings indicate that IL-15 may influence immunologic abnormalities in HIV infection, particularly its ability to prevent apoptosis of lymphocytes by suppressing the down-modulation of Bcl-2. This may provide an experimental basis for IL-15 immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Y G
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Hong
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D019254:Genes, bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009000:Monocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019409:Interleukin-15; D019014:fas Receptor