title: Innate immune recognition of, and regulation by, DNA.
abstract: DNA in microbes or host cells is normally sequestered from the immune system, and therefore inert, but becomes an active immunostimulatory molecule during infection or tissue damage. Recent evidence suggests that Toll-like receptor (TLR)9, currently the only known immune sensor for DNA, recognizes more diverse elements in its ligand than initially thought, and must cooperate with additional host factors to provoke an optimal innate immune response in the physiological environment. Moreover, the innate immune system possesses a TLR9-independent, as-yet-undefined intracellular recognition machinery of double-stranded DNA that induces type I interferons through distinct signaling pathways. TLR9-dependent and TLR9-independent immune recognition of DNA might play crucial roles in DNA-associated protective immunity and in pathological autoimmunity.
authors.affiliation: Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Department of Host Defense, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, 3-1 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Shizuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D018899:CpG Islands; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology*; D051217:Toll-Like Receptor 9 / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051217:Toll-Like Receptor 9; D004247:DNA