查看文章

Airway obstruction is a physiologic feature of asthma, and IL-15 might have an important role in asthma pathogenesis.

We tested the hypothesis that regulation of IL-15 is critical for preservation of allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), airway resistance, and compliance in response to methacholine.

Airway inflammation, AHR, resistance, and compliance were assessed in Il15 gene–deficient mice and IL-15–overexpressing mice in an allergen-induced murine model of asthma. We assessed eosinophil numbers by using anti–major basic protein immunostaining, goblet cell hyperplasia by using periodic acid–Schiff staining, and cytokine and chemokine levels by performing quantitative PCR and ELISA.

We made a novel observation that IL-15 deficiency promotes baseline airway resistance in naive mice. Moreover, rIL-15 delivery to the lung downregulates …