Astrocyte-Derived Interleukin-15 Exacerbates Ischemic Brain Injury Via Propagation Of Cellular Immunity

Department

neurobiology

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Astrocytes are believed to bridge interactions between infiltrating lymphocytes and neurons during brain ischemia, but the mechanisms for this action are poorly understood. Here we found that interleukin- 15 (IL-15) is dramatically up-regulated in astrocytes of postmortem brain tissues from patients with ischemic stroke and in a mouse model of transient focal brain ischemia.We generated a glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) promoter-controlled IL-15-expressing transgenic mouse (GFAP-IL-15tg) line and found enlarged brain infarcts, exacerbated neurodeficits after the induction of brain ischemia. In addition, knockdown of IL-15 in astrocytes attenuated ischemic brain injury. Interestingly, the accumulation of CD8+ T and natural killer (NK) cells was augmented in these GFAP-IL-15tg mice after brain ischemia. Of note, depletion of CD8+ T or NK cells attenuated ischemic brain injury in GFAP-IL-15tg mice. Furthermore, knockdown of the IL-15 receptor α or blockade of cell-to-cell contact diminished the activation and effector function of CD8+ T and NK cells in GFAP-IL-15tg mice, suggesting that astrocytic IL-15 is delivered in trans to target cells. Collectively, these findings indicate that astrocytic IL-15 could aggravate postischemic brain damage via propagation of CD8+ T and NK cell-mediated immunity.

Publication Date

1-17-2017

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

ISSN

00278424

Volume

114

Issue

3

First Page

E396

Last Page

E405

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1073/pnas.1612930114

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