Markus Janke

TL;DR: A chemical approach for 5' triphosphate oligoribonucleotide synthesis is established and it is found that synthetic single-stranded 5'Triphosphates were unable to bind and activate RIG-I, and the addition of the synthetic complementary strand resulted in optimal binding and activation of Rig-I.

TL;DR: Innate and antigen‐specific antiviral immunity are triggered by immunorecognition of viral nucleic acids, and RIG‐I seems promiscuous for a variety of different RNA molecules, very similar to the Toll‐like receptors, of which 10 family members are sufficient for the safe detection of the microbial cosmos.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that neutrophils are directly and fully activated through TLR8 but not TLR7, and the results predict that the clinical utility of small-moleculeTLR8 ligands or nuclease-stable RNA ligands for TLR 8 might be limited because of neutrophil-mediated toxicity but that no such limitation applies for unmodified isRNA, which is known to induce desired T(H)1 activities in other immune cell subsets.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that self‐DNA complexed to cationic molecules activate PDC and thus, indeed, may function as DAMPs; nevertheless, the preference of PDC for CpG containing DNA provides the basis for the discrimination of microbial from self‐ DNA even if DNA is presented in the condensed form of a complex.

TL;DR: It is concluded that human PDCs can be stimulated by bacterial DNA via TLR9; however, in the physiological context of mixed-cell populations, PDC activation is blocked by factors released from monocytes stimulated in parallel by other components of bacterial lysates such as LPS.