{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,3]],"date-time":"2026-06-03T05:08:40Z","timestamp":1780463320439,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,3]],"date-time":"2026-06-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780444800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000060","name":"National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01AI169526, R01AI166313, AR 40312, AI 22553"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01AI169526, R01AI166313, AR 40312, AI 22553"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000060","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis (CTL) represents a localized manifestation of\n                      <jats:italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis<\/jats:italic>\n                      infection in which immune responses are organized within lymphoid tissue. While cytotoxic lymphocyte responses contribute to antimycobacterial immunity, the cytokine networks coordinating these responses in human lymph node tuberculosis remain incompletely defined.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We performed integrated immune profiling of patients with CTL (n = 60) and non-tuberculous cervical lymphadenopathy (CNTL; n = 44). Immune\u2212gene expression was quantified in peripheral blood and lymph node mononuclear cells by qPCR. Systems-level analyses including principal component and correlation-network approaches were used to define coordinated immune pathways. Serum IL\u221215 was measured by ELISA, and tissue localization of IL\u221215 and IL\u221215R\u03b1 was examined by immunohistochemistry.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      CTL was characterized by a structured cytotoxic immune program enriched for granulysin, granzyme B, perforin, IFN-\u03b3, and CCL5. Network analysis identified IL-15 as a highly connected hub within this cytotoxic module in CTL. IL-15 transcripts were significantly elevated in both blood and lymph node compartments (p = 0.0003; p = 0.0007, respectively) and strongly correlated with cytotoxic effector genes. Circulating IL-15 concentrations were higher in CTL than CNTL (p &amp;lt; 0.0001) and increased with GeneXpert-defined bacillary burden (AUC 0.73). Immunohistochemistry demonstrated IL-15 and IL-15R\u03b1 expression within CD68\n                      <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                      macrophages localized to granulomatous regions, consistent with macrophage-mediated IL-15 trans-presentation within sites of infection.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings identify IL\u221215 as a potential central organizer of cytotoxic immune pathways in CTL and highlight IL\u221215\u2013linked immune signatures as biologically informative features of CTL immunopathogenesis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1831890","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,3]],"date-time":"2026-06-03T04:53:55Z","timestamp":1780462435000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Interleukin-15 correlates with cytotoxic immune networks in cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Soumaya","family":"Bchiri","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Transmission Control and Immunobiology of Infections, Institut Pasteur de Tunis","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"University Tunis El Manar","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Sciences of Tunis","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Khadija","family":"Bahrini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Transmission Control and Immunobiology of Infections, Institut Pasteur de Tunis","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"University Tunis El Manar","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rosane M. B.","family":"Teles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, University of California","place":["Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles","place":["Los Angeles, CA, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ameni Ben","family":"Alaya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Tunis El Manar","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Sciences of Tunis","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Houssem Eddine","family":"Kamel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Tunis El Manar","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine of Tunis","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Charles Nicolle Hospital","place":["Tunis, 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Ben","family":"Belghith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Transmission Control and Immunobiology of Infections, Institut Pasteur de Tunis","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"University Tunis El Manar","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rym","family":"Lahiani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Tunis El Manar","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine of Tunis","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Charles Nicolle Hospital","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emna","family":"Romdhane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Tunis El Manar","place":["Tunis, Tunisia"]},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Charles Nicolle Hospital","place":["Tunis, 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