Sn. Bykovskaia et al., The generation of human dendritic and NK cells from hemopoietic progenitors induced by interleukin-15, J LEUK BIOL, 66(4), 1999, pp. 659-666
Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a pleiotropic cytokine that induces the generatio
n and differentiation of lymphoid cells and shares many biological activiti
es with IL-2, We have shown here the development of dendritic cells (DC) fi
om human CD34(+) hemopoietic precursor cells cultured for 2-4 weeks with I
L-15 alone. DC generated with IL-15 have typical morphological, immunocytoc
hemical, phenotypic, and functional characteristics of mature DC, Dual flow
cytometry analysis performed weekly demonstrated increasing co-expression
of CD1a or CD83 with HLA-DR, CD80, CD86, IL-2R alpha, beta, and gamma, Two
populations of cells were distinguished among CD34(+) progeny. Small and me
dium-size cells were mainly natural killer (NK) cells (72.6-85.2% CD56(+))
and low numbers of DC (9.1-21.3% CD1a(+)). Large cells were mostly DC (75.4
-95.4% CD1a(+)), Isolated CD34(+) cells did not express IL-2R subunits but
after 2-3 days in culture with IL-15, they were found to express IL-2R gamm
a, Induced expression of IL-2R gamma on CD34(+) cells may explain the prima
ry mechanism of IL-15-regulated differentiation of hemopoietic precursor ce
lls. Thus, our data suggest that IL-15 stimulates CD34(+) cells to differen
tiate into NIC and DC and may represent a new growth and survival factor fo
r lymphoid DC.