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IL15

interleukin 15
2 disorders 2 no genetic record 4q31.21 gene with protein product
HGNC:5977MonarchNCBI Gene 3600ENSG00000164136UniProt P40933OMIM 600554

Aliases: IL-15, MGC9721.

Normal function · from ai-gene-review (P40933, commit 79fe13b38970) · AI-generated, not KB evidence

Interleukin-15 is a cytokine that plays a major role in the development of inflammatory and protective immune responses. It stimulates proliferation of natural killer cells, T-cells, and B-cells, and promotes secretion of cytokines. Unlike most cytokines, IL15 is expressed in association with its high affinity receptor IL15RA on the cell surface (trans-presentation) and signals through the IL2RB/IL2RG receptor complex, triggering JAK1/JAK3 phosphorylation and STAT3/STAT5 activation. Two isoforms exist: IL15-S48AA (secreted) and IL15-S21AA (intracellular, localized to cytoplasm and nucleus).

IL15 binds IL15RA with high affinity and is commonly delivered as an IL15:IL15RA complex to adjacent IL2RB/IL2RG-expressing cells, initiating IL15-mediated JAK-STAT signaling.
molecular function: interleukin-15 receptor binding · directly involved in: interleukin-15-mediated signaling pathway; cell surface receptor signaling pathway via JAK-STAT; cell-cell signaling · locations: extracellular region; cell surface
IL15 cytokine activity promotes proliferation, activation and maintenance of specific lymphocyte populations, especially NK cells, T cells and activated B cells, rather than indiscriminate cell population proliferation.
molecular function: cytokine activity · directly involved in: positive regulation of natural killer cell proliferation; positive regulation of natural killer cell activation; positive regulation of T cell proliferation; positive regulation of B cell proliferation; positive regulation of immunoglobulin production · locations: extracellular region
IL15 also acts on innate immune cells, supporting neutrophil activation, phagocytosis, cytokine/chemokine production and recruitment.
molecular function: cytokine activity · directly involved in: neutrophil activation; positive regulation of phagocytosis; positive regulation of neutrophil chemotaxis; positive regulation of cytokine production · locations: extracellular region
In the knowledge base · computed from kb/ at build time

Disorders

Relationship is the entry's genetic[].relationship_type. untyped means the entry has a genetic record for the gene but does not type it; its free-text association is shown instead.

DisorderRelationshipWhere the gene appears
Alopecia Areata no genetic record
mechanism: IFN-gamma–IL-15 JAK-STAT Feedback
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome no genetic record
mechanism: IL-15 Cytokine Amplification

Identity from HGNC (snapshot 2026-10-01). Page layers are described in the gene pages documentation.