Nucleic Acids in Innate Immunity

Providing insight into new areas of immunology, this book explains the roles of nucleic acids in immunity, describing the mechanism of discrimination based on pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs). Chapters discuss how these PRRs recognize and respond to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by activating specific signaling pathways. The book focuses on the therapeutic applications of immunomodulatory DNA to prevent or treat infectious diseases, allergic disorders, and cancer and addresses how the immune system discriminates self and non-self RNA. Contributions review recent advances to understand exactly what elements within DNA or RNA activate the innate immune recognition of nucleic acids and describe the resulting immune modulation.