IL-15 and IL-15 Receptor Selectively Regulate Differentiation of Common Mucosal Immune System-Independent B-1 Cells for IgA Responses

Abstract

We show in this report a new regulatory role for IL-15 and IL-15R in the development of B-1 cells and their differentiation into IgA-producing cells. Mucosal IgA levels were found to be inhibited by anti-IL-15 mAb treatment in vivo, but enhanced by administration of rIL-15, while serum IgA levels remained unaffected. Mucosal B-1 cells preferentially proliferated in response to IL-15 in vitro. When mucosal B-1 and B-2 cells were separated into surface (s)IgM+sIgA− and sIgM−sIgA+ fractions, IL-15R-specific mRNA was found to be predominant in both sIgM+sIgA− and sIgM−sIgA+ B-1 cells at a much higher level than B-2 cells. Further, incubation of these different subsets of B-1 and B-2 cells with IL-15 resulted in greater enhancement of the corresponding receptor expression by B-1 subset when compared with B-2 fraction. Interestingly, de novo isolated sIgM+sIgA− B-1, but not sIgM+sIgA− B-2, cells were already class-switched cells because the germline Cα transcript was detected and was then further enhanced by IL-15. IL-15 also supported differentiation of both sIgM+sIgA− and sIgM−sIgA+ B-1 cells into IgA-producing cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that IL-15 is a critically important cytokine for the differentiation of both sIgM+,IgA− and sIgM−sIgA+ B-1 cells expressing IL-15R into IgA-producing cells in mucosal tissues.