Microbial DNA and host immunity

Leading researchers review the activation of the mammalian immune system by bacterial DNA and its immunostimulatory sequences (ISS), and consider the applications of ISS in clinical medicine. The authors survey the latest findings concerning the receptor-recognition and signaling pathways triggered by ISS, the process of cell activation, and the potential vaccination strategies using ISS. Specific pharmaceutical applications discussed include infectious disease (Hepatitis B, HIV, and mycobacterial infections), allergy (asthma and conjunctivitis), cancer (lymphoma), and inflammation and autoimmunity (arthritis and colitis).

pt. 1. Introduction -- Immunostimulatory DNA: an overview / Eyal Raz -- Historial perspectives / Saburo Yamamoto -- pt. 2. Receptors and signaling -- Signal transduction pathways activated by CpG-DNA / Hans Häcker -- A novel toll-like receptor that recognizes bacterial DNA / Hiroaki Hemmi -- Activation of innate immunity by microbial nucleic acids / Wen-Ming Chu -- Phosphorothioate backbone modification changes the pattern of responses to CpG / Katryn J. Stacey -- pt. 3. Cell activation -- Activation of NK cell by immunostimulatory oligo-DNA in mouse and human / Saburo Yamamoto -- Regulation of antigen presenting cell function by CpG DNA / David Askew -- Activation of B cells by CpG motifs in bacterial DNA / Ae-Kyung Yi -- IFN-dependent pathways for stimulation of memory CD8+ cells / Jonathan Sprent -- Cross-priming of CD8+ T cells by immunostimulatory sequence DNA / Hearn Jay Cho -- pt. 4. Vaccination strategies -- The Th1 adjuvant effect of immunostimulatory (ISS) DNA seqences / Maripat Corr -- Immunostimulatory DNA prepriming for the induction of Th1 and prevention of Th2 biased immune responses / Hiroko Kobavashi -- Protein-immunostimulatory DNA-conjugate: a novel immunogen / …