Treatment of infectious diseases with immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG motifs.

Bacterial DNA with CpG motifs can efficiently stimulate the vertebrate immune system. Thus, synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides that contain such CpG motifs (CpG-ODN) are currently used in preclinical and clinical studies to develop new allergy or cancer therapies and vaccine adjuvants. Recent animal studies indicate that CpG-ODN therapies can also be used for successful treatment of infections caused by bacteria, parasites or viruses. In these experiments, innate and adaptive immune responses against pathogens were augmented by CpG-ODN and subsequently induced resistance against infectious diseases. The stimulation of dendritic cells played a central role for the therapeutic effect of CpG-ODN. However, CpG-ODN can also have negative side effects, which accelerate disease progression in some viral infections. Clinical studies with CpG-ODN will determine their potential for the therapy of infectious diseases in humans.