Modulation of NK Cell Autocrine-Induced Eosinophil Chemotaxis by Interleukin-15 and Vitamin D(3): A Possible NK-Eosinophil Crosstalk via IL-8 in the Pathophysiology of Allergic Rhinitis

Natural killer cells (NK) secrete eosinophilotactic cytokines, however, whether they contribute to eosinophil chemotaxis by secreting IL-8 is not known. We investigated the ability of CD56+CD3-ve (NK cells) to induce chemotaxis of peripheral blood eosinophils from allergic rhinitis (AR) patients, through IL-8 secretion, and the effects of IL-15, the NK cell proactivating cytokine, and calcitriol: 1α, 25-dihydroxy Vitamin D(3) (vitamin D(3)), the immunomodulator agent, in this scenario. Herein, it is shown that supernatants from unstimulated NK cells exhibited chemotactic activity against eosinophil. This effect was significantly augmented by IL-15 (1 ng/mL) treatment, resulting in an increase in the chemotactic index of approximately 3 folds and was abrogated by neutralizing antibody (Ab) to IL-8 in a dose-dependent fashion. The amount of IL-8 secreted by NK cells was increased by IL-15 treatment from levels of 88.64 ± 21.5 to 178.9 ± 23.6 Pg/mL and was significantly reduced by 10(−6) M vitamin D(3) to levels of 59.2 ± 16.3 Pg/mL. Our results indicate a novel inflammatory crosstalk between NK cells and eosinophils via IL-15/IL-8 axis that can be modulated by vitamin D(3).