We show that: (1) the spontaneous IL-15 mRNA expression is resistant to Jak3 and STAT3 inhibitors at concentrations that profoundly inhibit STAT3 activation and IL-17F mRNA expression; (2) anti-IL-15 antibody blocks STAT3 activation induced by exogenous IL-15 in non-malignant MF T cells, whereas the spontaneous STAT3 activation and IL-17F expression in malignant T cells is not inhibited; (3) patients display heterogeneous IL-15/IL-17F mRNA expression patterns in skin lesions; and (4) IL-15 expression (in contrast to IL-17F) is not associated with progressive disease.
Patients with disease control (CR + PR + SD) had tumors with higher EGFR and lower STAT3 expression at baseline compared with patients who had progressive disease (P = .0312 and P = .095, respectively).