Growth and apoptosis of human natural killer cell neoplasms: role of interleukin-2/15 signaling

S Yamasaki, M Maeda, K Ohshima, M Kikuchi… - Leukemia research, 2004 - Elsevier
Interleukin (IL)-15 plays an important role in the survival of human natural killer (NK) cells.
We investigated IL-2/15 signaling in NK cell neoplasms from five patients and in five cell
lines (NK-92, KHYG-1, SNK-6, HANK1 and MOTN-1) compared to mature peripheral NK
cells from 10 healthy subjects. Apoptosis of NK cell lines was prevented by addition of IL-15
in vitro. Blocking IL-2/15Rβ on IL-2-stimulated NK-92 cells resulted in reduced expression of
Bcl-XL and phosphorylated Stat5, which paralleled early apoptosis without altering Bcl-2 …