@article{mbs:/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.19029-0, author = "Dong, Li and Mori, Isamu and Hossain, Md. Jaber and Liu, Beixing and Kimura, Yoshinobu", title = "An immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotide containing a cytidine-guanosine motif protects senescence-accelerated mice from lethal influenza virus by augmenting the T helper type 1 response", journal= "Journal of General Virology", year = "2003", volume = "84", number = "6", pages = "1623-1628", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.19029-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.19029-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2099", type = "Journal Article", abstract = "The SAM-P1 strain of senescence-accelerated model mice shows an impaired T helper type 1 (Th1) immune response upon infection with influenza virus, which results in high susceptibility to the virus. Treatment of spleen cells from SAM-P1 mice with an immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotide containing a cytidine-guanosine motif (CpG ODN) in vitro increased the ratio of the titre of IFN-γ to that of IL-4. Administration of CpG ODN to SAM-P1 mice generated satisfactory virus-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses and natural killer cell activation and the virus-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) isotype switched from IgG1 to IgG2a. Virus growth in the lungs of CpG ODN-treated SAM-P1 mice was cleared quickly and mice survived the lethal influenza virus infection. It could be inferred that a possible mechanism of CpG ODN for normalization of senescence-associated dysregulation of the Th1/Th2 balance involves the upregulated expression of CD154 and CD40 molecules on immune-competent cells. These results suggest that CpG ODN could contribute to the development of a protective strategy against infectious diseases, especially among immunocompromised elderly persons, by stimulating Th1 immune responses.", }