Owing to its easier accessibility and less severe graft-versus-host disease, umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been increasingly used as an alternative to bone marrow for hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. Naiveté of UCB lymphocytes, however, results in delayed immune reconstitution and infection-related mortality in transplant recipients. This article reviews UCB immunology and addresses the potential therapeutic role of interleukin (IL)-15, a pleiotropic gamma chain signaling cytokine, in modulating immune reconstitution, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), graft-versus-leukemia effect, and infection susceptibility during the post-UCB transplant period. Cytokine immunotherapy using IL-15 simultaneously modulates several immune compartments, thus holds promise for facilitating post-transplant recovery and augmenting antitumor effect without aggravating GVHD in the setting of UCB transplantation.

中文翻译：

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白细胞介素15在脐血移植中的作用。

由于其更易于获取且不太严重的移植物抗宿主病，脐带血（UCB）已越来越多地用作骨髓的替代品，用于造血干细胞移植。然而，幼稚的UCB淋巴细胞导致移植受体免疫重建延迟和感染相关的死亡率。本文综述了UCB免疫学并探讨了多效性γ链信号细胞因子白介素（IL）-15在调节免疫重建，移植物抗宿主病（GVHD），移植物抗白血病作用和感染中的潜在治疗作用UCB移植后的易感性。使用IL-15的细胞因子免疫疗法可同时调节多个免疫区室，