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Updated: Aug 17, 2026
Trans-vivo Delayed Type Hypersensitivity Assay for Antigen Specific Regulation
Published on: May 2, 2013
Interleukin-15 production during liver allograft rejection in humans
Filomena Conti1, Jerome Frappier, Sebastien Dharancy
1Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire, Faculté de Médecine Cochin-Port-Royal, Paris, France.
Background:
The activity of interleukin (IL)-15, a cytokine produced by macrophages, is similar to that of IL-2. We investigated whether IL-15 plays a role in liver allograft rejection.
Methods:
We evaluated plasma levels and intrahepatic expression of IL-15 in 35 patients after liver transplantation, and then analyzed in vitro the influence of anticalcineurin drugs or steroids on IL-15 production and secretion. Finally, we examined the effects of IL-15 on lymphocyte proliferation in mixed lymphocyte culture in the presence or absence of anticalcineurin drugs or steroids.
Results:
Plasma levels and in situ expression of IL-15 were enhanced during liver allograft rejection, particularly during steroid-resistant acute rejection and during chronic rejection. In vitro, IL-15 production and secretion were inhibited by neither anticalcineurin drugs nor steroids. Exogenous IL-15 enhanced cell-mediated immune response, and this effect was not inhibited by immunosuppressive drugs.
Conclusions:
IL-15 can play a role in the initiation and outcome of acute and chronic rejection. Anti-IL-15 therapy in combination with classic immunosuppression therapy might thus be beneficial in the prevention of acute, and especially chronic, allograft rejection.
