Oligodinucleotides containing CpG motifs (CpG ODN) are strong adjuvants for immune responses, particularly in mice, but data on humoral and cellular immune responses in piglets are scarce. In this report, using the swine streptococcus as model bacteria, CpG ODN was used as immunoadjuvants to enhance the immune responses of the piglets to swine streptococcic septicemia killed vaccine (SSSK vacci...

TLRs discriminate foreign from self via their specificity for pathogen-derived invariant ligands, an example being TLR9 recognizing bacterial unmethylated CpG motifs. In this study we report that endosomal translocation of CpG DNA via the natural endocytotic pathway is inefficient and highly saturable, whereas endosomal translocation of DNA complexed to the cationic lipid N-[1-(2,3-dioleoyloxy)...

Minicircle DNA vectors devoid of plasmid bacterial backbone, (BB) DNAs, are transcriptionally persistent, whereas their parent plasmid counterparts are silenced in the liver. In this study we establish that circular plasmid BB provided in trans did not silence a transgene expression cassette in vivo, further confirming our previous conclusions that the covalent attachment of the plasmid BB to t...

The mechanisms involved in the antimetastatic effect of CpG-containing DNA were investigated in a mouse model of experimental metastasis. Tumor cell colony formation in lungs or livers of mice after i.v. inoculation with syngeneic fibrosarcoma or thymoma cells was determined. The i.v. injection of plasmid DNA or synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) containing unmethylated CpG motifs before tu...

Neonatal murine responses to a panel of conventional vaccines differ qualitatively from adult responses by a particular polarization toward a Th2 pattern and a frequent limitation of the Th1 and CTL responses required for protection against intracellular microorganisms. In contrast, DNA vaccines induce adult-like Th1/CTL neonatal responses against the same vaccine Ags. In this report, we show t...

Oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) with immunomodulatory motifs control a number of microbial infections in animal models, presumably by acting through toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) to induce a number of cytokines (e.g., alpha interferon and tumor necrosis factor alpha). The immunomodulatory motif consists of unmethylated sequences of cytosine and guanosine (CpG motif). ODNs without CpG motifs do not t...

Oligonucleotides containing unmethylated CpG motifs (cytosine-phosphorothioate-guanine oligodeoxynucleotide (CpG ODN)) are potent immunostimulatory agents capable of enhancing the Ag-specific Th1 response when used as immune adjuvants. We evaluated the cellular mechanisms responsible for this effect. Development of a CTL response was enhanced when mice were immunized with peptide-pulsed dendrit...