The Effect of IL-2 and IL-15 on the Viability of IL-15 KO and B6 Wild Type Mice

School Name

Governor's School for Science & Mathematics

Grade Level

12th Grade

Presentation Topic

Cell and Molecular Biology

Presentation Type

Mentored

Mentor

Mentor: Mark Rubinstein, Medical University of South Carolina

Abstract

Interlukin-2(IL-2) and Interlukin-15(IL-15) both play a critical role in the growth and activation of T-Cells since they are cytokines, growth factors for T-cells. To activate the T-cell IL-2 binds to the cell telling it to activate, afterwards IL-15 comes in giving the activated T-cell a target, which for this research, cancer cells. The goal was to determine was if the absence of IL-15 receptor alpha had any effect on the viability of T-cells in the presence of these cytokines. To do this, we retrieved wild type mice and IL-15 knockout (KO) mice, mice without the Il-15 receptor Alpha, T-cells through sterile spleen processing, and grew them for two days. Afterwards we took them and plated them in the presence of our selected cytokines, and let them grow for two more days. Then we ran flowcytometry, a method of cell examination that uses light wavelengths, and antibody tags to determine attributes of a cell on our cells using Propidium Iodide as our dye. We learned through our results that without the Il-15 receptor Alpha the Knockout mice had a higher viability in the presence of Il-2 than the KO mice. This could have been due to the lack of the IL-15 receptor Alpha converting what would have been Il-15 receptors into Il-2 receptors due to their structural similarities. This information could possibly be used to improve cellular cancer therapy using Il-15 receptor Alpha KO cells to produce many T-cells then modifying them to target cancer cells.

Start Date

3-25-2017 11:59 PM

Presentation Format

Written Only

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Mar 25th, 11:59 PM

The Effect of IL-2 and IL-15 on the Viability of IL-15 KO and B6 Wild Type Mice

Interlukin-2(IL-2) and Interlukin-15(IL-15) both play a critical role in the growth and activation of T-Cells since they are cytokines, growth factors for T-cells. To activate the T-cell IL-2 binds to the cell telling it to activate, afterwards IL-15 comes in giving the activated T-cell a target, which for this research, cancer cells. The goal was to determine was if the absence of IL-15 receptor alpha had any effect on the viability of T-cells in the presence of these cytokines. To do this, we retrieved wild type mice and IL-15 knockout (KO) mice, mice without the Il-15 receptor Alpha, T-cells through sterile spleen processing, and grew them for two days. Afterwards we took them and plated them in the presence of our selected cytokines, and let them grow for two more days. Then we ran flowcytometry, a method of cell examination that uses light wavelengths, and antibody tags to determine attributes of a cell on our cells using Propidium Iodide as our dye. We learned through our results that without the Il-15 receptor Alpha the Knockout mice had a higher viability in the presence of Il-2 than the KO mice. This could have been due to the lack of the IL-15 receptor Alpha converting what would have been Il-15 receptors into Il-2 receptors due to their structural similarities. This information could possibly be used to improve cellular cancer therapy using Il-15 receptor Alpha KO cells to produce many T-cells then modifying them to target cancer cells.