. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Dec 1.

Published in final edited form as: Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 2017 Sep 1;38:10–21. doi: 10.1016/j.cytogfr.2017.08.002

Table V.

Comparison of IL-15 superagonist to IL-15

Agents	Half-life and lymphoid organ distribution	Effect on NK cells	Effect on CD8+ T cells	Anti -tumor effect
IL- 15	~40 minutes- in serum 1 hour	↑proliferation NKp30, NKp44, NKG2D, CD69, CD56, IFN-γ and cytotoxic killing	↑proliferation	No effect on melanoma,pancreatic tumor, glioblastoma, Burkitt′s lymphoma ; limited effect on primary lung cancer, mammary tumor, prostate cancer, metastatic colon carcinoma
IL-15 superagonist	~20–25 hours in serum; a longer time in lymphoid organs	↑↑proliferation; ↑↑NKp30, NKp44, CD69, CD56, IFN-γ and cytotoxic killing	↑↑proliferation of total and memory CD8⁺ T cells; naïve cells acquire effector or memory phenotype	↑↑survival and/or tumor regression of melanoma, pancreatic tumor, lung cancer, glioblastoma, mammary cancer, prostate cancer, multiple myeloma, metastatic colon carcinoma