Cell-specific Interleukin-15 and Interleukin-15 receptor subunit expression and regulation in pneumococcal pneumonia

IL-15 has critical impact on the homeostasis and activation of NK, NKT, gdT and CD8+T cells, and contributes to antimicrobial defenses particularly at mucosal sites. The respiratory tract also comprises a large mucosal surface and harbors significant amounts of lymphocytes, but the expression pattern of IL-15 in the lung and its role in local immune responses are largely unknown. We therefore analyzed the differential expression of IL-15 and the IL-15 receptor (IL-15R) complex in the lungs of mice, and demonstrated substantial constitutive expression in bronchial and alveolar epithelial cells, alveolar macrophages, and vascular smooth muscle cells, implicating contribution to pulmonary immune cell homeostasis already under normal conditions. The induction of pneumococcal pneumonia but not the infection with Chlamydophila pneumoniae evoked a significant up-regulation of IL-15 on alveolar macrophages and bronchial epithelial cells, with the latter presenting de-novo expression of IL-15 on their basolateral surface and additional up-regulation of IL-15Ra . Transcriptome analysis and semiquantitative PCR indicated at least partial transcriptional regulation. Finally, the increase of IL-15 was accompanied by enhanced expression of CD69, TNFa, IFNg and Bcl-2 by IL-15-dependent lymphocyte populations suggesting functional impact of IL-15 on the pulmonary immune response in pneumococcal pneumonia. Keywords: Streptococcus pneumoniae, pneumonia, IL-15 Microarray experiments were done as two-color hybridizations. RNA labeling was performed with a Fluorescent Linear Amplification Kit (Agilent Technologies). In order to compensate dye specific effects, and to ensure statistically relevant data, a color swap was performed.