Patent ID: 7935351

Claim:
A method of inducing production of vascular endothelial growth factor by a cell, comprising contacting the cell with a CpG oligodeoxynucleotide of 8 to 30 nucleotides in length, wherein the CpG oligodeoxynucleode is (1) a K-type oligodexoynucleotide comprising (a) a nucleic acid sequence as set forth as: 5′-N 1 DCGYN 2 -3′ (SEQ ID NO: 2) wherein at least one nucleotide separates consecutive CpGs; D is adenine, guanine, or thymidine; Y is cytosine or thymine, N is any nucleotide and N 1 +N 2 is from 0-26 bases; or (b) a nucleic acid sequence set forth as: 5′-N 1 RDCGYTN 2 -3′ (SEQ ID NO: 4) wherein at least one nucleotide separates consecutive CpGs; RD is selected from the group consisting of GpT, GpG, GpA, ApT and ApA; YT is selected from the group consisting of TpT or CpT; N is any nucleotide and N 1 +N 2 is from 0-26 bases; or (2) a D-type oligodeoxynucleotide comprising a sequence set forth as: 5′-N 1 N 2 N 3 R 1 Y 2 CpGR 3 Y 4 N 4 N 5 N 6 (N) x (G) z -3′ (SEQ ID NO: 6) wherein the central CpG motif is unmethylated, R is a purine nucleotide, Y is a pyrimidine nucleotide, N is any nucleotide, X is any integer from 0 to 10, and Z is any integer from 4 to 10, thereby inducing the production of vascular endothelial growth factor by the cell.