Interleukin-15 gene expression in human astrocytes and microglia in culture

Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a novel cytokine that has recently been cloned and expressed. IL-15 interacts with components of the IL-2 receptor and exhibits T-cell stimulating activity similar to that of IL-2. In the present study, we investigated the expression of IL-15 in enriched cultures of human fetal astrocytes and microglia using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunodetection analysis. Low levels of IL-15 were expressed by unstimulated human fetal astrocytes and microglia, and treatment of astrocytes with interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) increased the expression of IL-15 at both the mRNA and protein level. Treatment of microglia with IFN-gamma and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) similarly increased IL-15 expression in microglia. These findings suggest that IL-15 produced by human fetal astrocytes and microglia may have a role in T cell-mediated immune responses in the human CNS.