Elloso M M, Wallace M, Manning D D, Weidanz W P
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison 53706, USA.
Immunol Lett. 1998 Dec;64(2-3):125-32. doi: 10.1016/s0165-2478(98)00088-1.
We observed that the gammadelta T cell subset expands when human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from malaria-naive donors are cultured with Plasmodium falciparum lysate in the presence of IL-2 or IL-15, cytokines that utilize two common IL-2 receptor subunits. IL-15 induced the expansion of the gammadelta T cell subset at all levels tested, whereas IL-2 was not stimulatory at high levels. Flow cytometric analysis of apoptosis using the TUNEL assay indicated that the percentage and absolute number of gammadelta T cells undergoing apoptosis were greater in cultures stimulated with antigen and IL-2 than in cultures stimulated with either antigen and IL-15 or control erythrocyte lysate and IL-2. The ability of IL-15 to enhance gammadelta T cell function was also assessed; the results suggest that IL-15 can function with IL-2 to enhance the capacity of gammadelta T cells to inhibit parasite replication. Together these data indicate that IL-2 and IL-15, which both bind to IL-2Rbeta and IL-2R(gamma)c, enhance gammadelta T cell function, but they appear to have different effects on proliferation and survival.
