Sustained damage to the mucosal lining in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) facilitates translocation of intestinal microbes to submucosal immune cells leading to chronic inflammation. IL-2 plays a role in intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) homeostasis through concentration-dependent regulation of IEC proliferation and cell death. Activation by IL-2 led to tyrosine phosphorylation-dependent interactions between Jak3 and p52ShcA only at lower concentrations. Higher concentrations of IL-2 decreased the phosphorylation of Jak3, disrupted its interactions with p52ShcA, redistributed Jak3 to the nucleus, and induced apoptosis in IEC. IL-2 also induced dose-dependent downregulation of jak3-mRNA. Constitutive overexpression and mir-shRNA-mediated knockdown studies showed that expression of Jak3 was necessary for IL-2-induced proliferation of IEC. Additionally, IL-2-induced downregulation of jak3-mRNA was responsible for higher IL-2-induced apoptosis in IEC. Thus IL-2-induced mucosal homeostasis through posttranslational and transcriptional regulation of Jak3.