Immunostimulatory cytidyl guanosyl (CpG) motifs are of great interest as cancer vaccine adjuvants. They act as potent inducers of Th1 responses, including the activation of cytotoxic CD8 T lymphocytes (CTL). Whereas animal models have provided clear evidence that CpG enhances antitumor immunity, clinical trials in humans have thus far been less successful. Applying cryosurgery as an instant in ...

Asthma is a disorder of increasing severity and prevalence. Recent knowledge about the pathogenesis of asthma emphasizes its inflammatory nature. CpG oligonucleotides are a class of compounds containing motifs based on the cytosine-guanine dinucleotides (CpG-ODNs). These motifs are suppressed in mammalian DNA. They induce inflammation in mammals characterized by the induction of T helper type 1...

In the present study we determined whether CpG motifs could be used as an immune adjuvant for the Omp-1 DNA vaccine against Chlamydophila psittaci, based on the major outer membrane protein (MOMP), to induce the protection in specific pathogen free chickens against an intranasal challenge. Six sequences of phosphorothioate-CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODNs) with strong immunostimulatory activ...

The Toll-like receptor (TLR)9 is critical for the recognition of immunostimulatory CpG motifs but may cooperate with other TLRs. We analyzed TLR1-10 mRNA expression by using quantitative real-time PCR in highly purified subsets of human PBMC and determined the sensitivity of these subsets to CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN). TLR1 and TLR6 were expressed in all cell types examined. TLR10 was high...

Codon optimization enhances the effectiveness of DNA expression vectors used in DNA vaccination and gene therapy by increasing protein expression. Additionally certain nucleotide motifs have experimentally been shown to be immuno-stimulatory while certain others have been shown to be immuno-suppressive. In this paper, we present algorithms to locate all the possible occurrences of a given set o...

Protection against a challenge infection with Toxoplasma gondii VEG strain oocysts was examined in pigs after vaccination with T. gondii RH strain tachyzoites with or without a porcine specific synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) containing immunostimulatory CpG motifs. Six groups of pigs were immunized with incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA) and either vehicle, tachyzoites alone or in combin...

Oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) containing unmethylated CpG dinucleotides in contexts of unique sequence (CpG motifs) is active as adjuvant in induction of cellular and humoral immune responses in young mice. To date, there are only limited reports about effect of CpG ODN on immune responses against hepatitis B (HB) infection in aged mice. Our studies demonstrated there were significant increases i...

The Toll-like receptor (TLR) family consists of phylogenetically conserved transmembrane proteins, which function as mediators of innate immunity for recognition of pathogen-derived ligands and subsequent cell activation via the Toll/IL-1R signal pathway. Here, we show that human TLR9 (hTLR9) expression in human immune cells correlates with responsiveness to bacterial deoxycytidylate-phosphate-...

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a human herpesvirus which has been studied intensively for its role in certain human tumors. It also serves as a model of herpesviral latency because it establishes an immediate, latent infection in human B cells. When EBV infects quiescent, primary B cells it induces their continuous proliferation to yield growth-transformed B-cell lines in vitro. The lytic or produ...