INTERLEUKIN-15 INTERACTIONS WITH INTERLEUKIN-15 RECEPTOR COMPLEXES: CHARACTERIZATION AND SPECIES SPECIFICITY

• Published in: Cytokine (Philadelphia, Pa.) Pa.), 2002-11, Vol.20 (3), p.121-129
• Main Authors: Eisenman, June, Ahdieh, Minoo, Beers, Courtney, Brasel, Kenneth, Kennedy, Mary K., Le, Tiep, Bonnert, Timothy P., Paxton, Raymond J., Park, Linda S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Binding, Competitive; Cell Division - drug effects; Cells, Cultured; Glycosylation; Haplorhini; human/IL-15 mutants/IL-2 receptor/mouse/species specificity; Humans; Interleukin-15 - metabolism; Interleukin-15 - pharmacology; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Protein Binding; Protein Subunits - chemistry; Protein Subunits - metabolism; Receptors, Interleukin-15; Receptors, Interleukin-2 - chemistry; Receptors, Interleukin-2 - metabolism; Solubility; Species Specificity; Spleen - cytology; Spleen - drug effects; Spleen - metabolism
• ISSN: 1043-4666; 1096-0023
• DOI: 10.1006/cyto.2002.1989

Interleukin (IL-) 2 and IL-15 share the IL-2 receptor βγ c subunits (IL-2Rβγ c) but have specific, unique α receptor subunits. We studied species specificity of human (hu), simian (si), and mouse (mu) IL-15 and found that hu and si IL-15 behaved similarly in all systems investigated. Hu and mu IL-15 bound hu or mu IL-15Rα with equal high affinity in the presence or absence of IL-2Rβγ c and exhibited similar proliferative activities on cells containing all three subunits. However, quantitative differences were noted in the specific activity of hu and mu IL-15 in both in vitro and in vivo systems utilizing IL-2Rβγ c in the absence of IL-15Rα. These data show that hu IL-15 may be used in mouse model systems, however care must be taken when comparing the efficacy and toxicity of cytokines across species.