Hermann Wagner

TL;DR: It is shown that cellular response to CpG DNA is mediated by a Toll-like receptor, TLR9, and vertebrate immune systems appear to have evolved a specific Toll- like receptor that distinguishes bacterial DNA from self-DNA.

TL;DR: It is shown that guanosine (G)- and uridine (U)-rich ssRNA oligonucleotides derived from human immunodeficiency virus–1 (HIV-1) stimulate dendritic cells and macrophages to secrete interferon-α and proinflammatory, as well as regulatory, cytokines, and these data suggest that ssRNA represents a physiological ligand for TLR7 and TLR8.

TL;DR: It is shown that human TLR9 expression in human immune cells correlates with responsiveness to bacterial deoxycytidylate-phosphate-deoxyguanylate (CpG)-DNA, and data suggest that hTLR9 conveys CpG-DNA responsiveness to human cells by directly engaging immunostimulating Cpg-DNA.

TL;DR: It is found that TLR2 and TLR4 confer responsiveness to HSP70 in 293T fibroblasts and the expanding list of endogenous ligands able to activate the ancient Toll/IL-1 receptor signal pathway is in line with the “danger hypothesis” proposing that the innate immune system senses danger signals even if they originate from self.