Kawamura Toshihiko, Koka Rima, Ma Averil, Kumar Vinay
Department of Pathology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
J Immunol. 2003 Nov 15;171(10):5085-90. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.171.10.5085.
IL-15Ralpha-deficient (IL-15Ralpha(-/-)) mice lack NK cells. However, when bone marrow (BM) progenitors from IL-15Ralpha(-/-) mice were cultured with IL-7, stem cell factor and flt3 ligand, followed by IL-15, they were able to differentiate into functional NK cells, indicating that IL-15Ralpha is not critical for NK cell development. Whereas NK cells generated in vitro from IL-15Ralpha(-/-) BM progenitors expressed CD94/NKG2, they failed to express Ly-49 receptors. In keeping with this, when IL-15Ralpha(-/-) BM cells were transferred into wild type recipients, they gave rise to NK cells in vivo, but with greatly reduced expression of Ly-49 receptors. Furthermore, the small numbers of NK cells found in IL-15(-/-) as well as IL-15Ralpha(-/-) but not flt3 ligand(-/-) mice expressed much lower levels of Ly-49 receptors than those from wild type mice. These results indicate a novel role for IL-15Ralpha-chain in Ly-49 induction on developing NK cells.
白细胞介素-15受体α缺陷（IL-15Rα(-/-)）小鼠缺乏自然杀伤（NK）细胞。然而，当用白细胞介素-7、干细胞因子和fms样酪氨酸激酶3配体培养IL-15Rα(-/-)小鼠的骨髓（BM）祖细胞，随后加入白细胞介素-15时，它们能够分化为功能性NK细胞，这表明IL-15Rα对NK细胞发育并不关键。虽然从IL-15Rα(-/-) BM祖细胞体外生成的NK细胞表达CD94/NKG2，但它们不表达Ly-49受体。与此一致的是，当将IL-15Rα(-/-) BM细胞移植到野生型受体中时，它们在体内产生NK细胞，但Ly-49受体的表达大幅降低。此外，在IL-15(-/-)以及IL-15Rα(-/-)而非fms样酪氨酸激酶3配体(-/-)小鼠中发现的少量NK细胞，其Ly-49受体的表达水平远低于野生型小鼠的NK细胞。这些结果表明IL-15Rα链在发育中的NK细胞上诱导Ly-49表达方面具有新的作用。
