1: Blood. 2001 Nov 1;98(9):2778-83. 

Comment in:
    Blood. 2002 May 1;99(9):3488; author reply 3488-9.

Interleukin-7 and interleukin-15 regulate the expression of the bcl-2 and c-myb
genes in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cells.

Qin JZ, Zhang CL, Kamarashev J, Dummer R, Burg G, Dobbeling U.

Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland.

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) and IL-15 have been recently identified as growth factors
for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) cells, and they protect these cells from
cell death. Using the CTCL cell line SeAx as a test system now shows that IL-7
and IL-15 are indeed necessary to maintain high levels of bcl-2. The
up-regulation of bcl-2 was paralleled by increased DNA-binding activities of the
transcription factors STAT2, STAT5, STAT6, and c-Myb to bcl-2 gene
promoter-enhancer elements. Because STAT5 and c-Myb positively regulate bcl-2,
IL-7 and IL-15 may mediate some of their effects on cell death survival gene
expression through these 2 factors. Constitutive activities of the 3 STAT
factors and c-Myb were found in the IL-7- and IL-15-independent CTCL cell lines
HUT78 and MyLa 2059. The c-Myb protein was also present in CTCL cells of the
skin lesions of all investigated patients. These results indicate that IL-7 and
IL-15 may increase bcl-2 expression in CTCL cells by the activation of c-myb and
STAT factors.

PMID: 11675351 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


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