Jorg Vollmer

..These characteristics can be availed to induce potent anti-tumor or anti-viral effects. Consequently, C-Class CpG ODN represent ideal drug candidates for anti-viral and/or anti-tumor therapy...

..Although their potential clinical contributions are enormous, the safety and efficacy of these TLR9 agonists in humans remain to be determined...

..A potent immune activator such as TLR9 agonist CpG oligodeoxynucleotide (CpG) may complement current treatment approaches...

..Here, we will try to give an overview on the TLR expression pattern of human, primate, and murine B cells, their stimulation by TLR ligands or other adjuvants, and the outcome such as B cell proliferation and cytokine production...

..This review will summarize the interplay between TLR9-dependent opposing stimulatory and regulatory effects in innate and adaptive immunity...

..Our study indicates that TLR9 can mediate either efficient Th1- or Th2-dominated effects depending on whether it is stimulated by CpG or certain non-CpG ODN...

..These studies provide a structure-activity relationship for TLR9 agonist compounds with diverse immune effects...

..CpG ODN represent a promising new type of therapeutic drug for hepatitis C or other infectious diseases...

..These data indicate that increasing amounts of LNA residues in the flanks or substitutions of CpG nucleobases with LNA reduce or eliminate the immune stimulatory effects of CpG-containing phosphorothioate ODN...

..In vivo studies demonstrate that C-Class ODN are very potent Th1 adjuvants. C-Class ODN may represent new therapeutic drugs that combine the effects of A- and B-Class ODN for broad applications in infectious disease or cancer therapy...

..TLR9 agonists represent a new class of small (8-30 bases long), easily synthesised, non-antisense ODN pharmaceuticals...

..Our data provide a better understanding of the mechanisms through which CpG ODNs induce efficient Th1 responses...

..In summary, we describe two classes of single-stranded TLR7/8 and TLR8 RNA agonists with diverse target cell and species specificities and immune response profiles...

..Taken together, we have discovered a novel class of CpG ODNs, the P-Class, with promising superior activity for disease application...

..These results demonstrate that a prototype autoantigen, the snRNP, can directly stimulate innate immunity and suggest that autoantibodies against snRNP may initiate SLE by stimulating TLR7/8...

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..Our findings are of therapeutic relevance as this motif is present in many siRNA sequences and will to contribute to the immunostimulatory properties of unmodified siRNAs...

..These results demonstrate an unexpected plasticity in the ligand specificities of TLR7 and TLR8, and suggest a novel sequence-selective interaction between these receptors and synthetic phosphorothioate ODN...

..Superfect delivery system only activates TLR7 and opens new capabilities in RNAi and immune activation...

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..Our results strongly suggest that co-stimulation of T cell proliferation by TLR7/8 agonists is dependent on the specific cellular context...

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..Such ODNs can induce effects similar to those seen with CpG ODNs but are much less efficient in stimulating human immune cells...

..These findings provide novel insights into the use of synthetic TLR7 or TLR7/8 small molecules as ligands for immune activation and suppression...

..Finally, with the rapid progress in the development of therapeutic agonists for the TLRs, there is accompanying attention to the theoretical possibility that such therapy may induce autoimmunity or autoimmune diseases...

..In some cases, synthetic ODN and ORN can trigger these defenses and, therefore, can interfere with or distort the mechanism of action of antisense ODN or small interfering RNAs...

..Therefore, CpG ODNs represent targeted immune modulatory drugs with a broad range of potential applications...