title: Structural requirements and applications of inhibitory oligodeoxyribonucleotides.
abstract: Synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODN) bearing certain sequence characteristics mimic bacterial DNA by activating B cells and dendritic cells through Toll-like receptor (TLR) 9, an event that potentiates both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. ODN sharing some of the sequence characteristics of strong stimulatory (ST-) ODN, but substituting GGG for CGTT, competitively inhibit ST-ODN-driven events. An ODN with the same length and base composition as a strong ST-ODN, but lacking both ST- and IN-sequence requirements, has neither ST- nor IN-activity. Whereas, certain sequence changes strongly influence ST-ODN activity in human cells relative to mouse cells and B cells relative to non B cells, the strongest IN-ODN appear to work well in both species and multiple cell types. Converting from the natural phosphodiester backbone to a nuclease-resistant phosphorothioate backbone increases the sensitivity to ST-ODN about 2 logs and to IN-ODN 3 logs, while increasing the impact of critical base changes in ST-ODN and diminishing it in IN-ODN. Examples where IN-ODN have been used in vivo to interrupt autoimmune and other TLR-9-induced inflammatory states are described.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Immunology, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242-1009, USA. robert-ashman@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Ashman
authors.forename: Petar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lenert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D051217:Toll-Like Receptor 9 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C408982:CPG-oligonucleotide; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; C495371:TLR9 protein, human; D051217:Toll-Like Receptor 9