Recombinant human IL-15 produced in E. coli is a single, non-glycosylated, polypeptide chain containing 114 amino acids. It also contains 4 cysteine residues, forming 2 pairs of disulfide bonds in the chain.
IL-15 is an immunomodulating cytokine that stimulates the proliferation of T lymphocytes and shares many biological properties with IL-2. IL-15 exerts its biological activities primarily on T cells. It is also essential in the development, survival and activation of NK cells. Increased expression of IL-15 has been linked to rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and diseases affiliated with retroviruses HIV and HTLV-I. Human IL-15 is biologically active on mouse cells as measured by the dose-dependent stimulation of the proliferation of mouse CTLL cells