Production and utilization of interleukin-15 in malignant catarrhal fever

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is an often fatal lymphoproliferative disease of ungulates caused by either alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 (AlHV-1) or ovine herpesvirus-2 (OvHV-2). The pathogenesis of MCF is poorly understood, but appears to involve an auto-destructive pathology whereby cytotoxic lymphocytes destroy areas of a variety of tissues. The cytokine interleukin-15 (IL-15) is involved in the development and maintenance of cytotoxic lymphocytes and may therefore have a role in the pathogenesis of MCF. Virus-infected large granular lymphocytes (LGLs) were obtained from the tissues of rabbits infected with AlHV-1 or OvHV-2. These cells exhibited a similar proliferative response to IL-15 and to IL-2 in culture, but their content of the activated cytotoxic enzyme (BLT-esterase) was maintained at higher levels in the presence of IL-15 compared with IL-2. The LGLs did not express IL-15 mRNA or produce IL-15 protein. By contrast, there was abundant expression of IL-15 mRNA and protein in affected tissues. IL-15 production was associated with necrotic lesions of the mesenteric lymph node and appendix of OvHV-2-infected rabbits, but was not found in the same tissues of rabbits infected with AlHV-1 in which there were no necrotic lesions. The cellular source of the IL-15 was predominantly lymphoid cells that did not express B cell or monocyte-macrophage markers. Only a few IL-15+ cells (<10%) co-localized with pan-T cells or CD8+ T cells. The abundance of IL-15 in tissue with lesions of MCF suggests that this cytokine may have a role in the pathogenesis of MCF.