Drug-induced senescent Multiple Myeloma cells elicit NK cell proliferation by direct or exosome-mediated IL-15 trans-presentation
Treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) cells with sub-lethal doses of genotoxic drugs leads to senescence and results in increased NK cell recognition and effector functions. Herein we demonstrated that doxorubicin- and melphalan-treated senescent cells display increased expression of IL15, a cytokine involved in NK cell activation, proliferation, and maturation. IL15 up-regulation was evident at the mRNA and protein level, both in MM cell lines and malignant plasma cells (PCs) from patients' bone marrow (BM) aspirates.