Patent ID: 8383598

Claim:
A method for therapeutically treating a vertebrate having an autoimmune disease mediated by TLR1, TLR8 and/or TLR9 that is psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia universalis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, Addison's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, autoimmune hepatitis, Bullous pemphigoid, chagas disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coeliac disease, dermatomyositis, endometriosis, Goodpasture's syndrome, Graves' disease, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Hashimoto's disease, hidradenitis suppurativa, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, interstitial cystitis, morphea, myasthenia gravis, narcolepsy, neuromyotonia, pemphigus, pernicious anaemia, polymyositis, primary biliary cirrhosis, schizophrenia, Sjögren's syndrome, vasculitis, vitiligo, or vulvodynia, such method comprising administering to the vertebrate a pharmaceutically effective amount of an IRO compound comprising at least two oligonucleotides linked by a non-nucleotide linker at their 3 ends or by a functionalized sugar or by a functionalized nucleobase via a non-nucleotide linker, wherein at least one oligonucleotide has the structure 5′-N m -N 3 N 2 N 1 CGN 1 N 2 N 3 -N m -3′; wherein: CG is an oligonucleotide motif that is CpG, C*pG, C*pG* or CpG*, wherein C is cytosine, C* is a pyrimidine nucleotide derivative, G is guanosine, and G* is a purine nucleotide derivative; N 1 is a modified nucleotide that suppresses the activity of the oligonucleotide motif selected from the group consisting of 2′-substituted ribonucleoside, 2′-O-substituted ribonucleoside, 2′-substituted arabinoside, and 2′-O-substituted arabinoside; N 2 -N 3 , at each occurrence, is independently i) a nucleotide, ii) a nucleotide derivative, or iii) a modified nucleotide that suppresses the activity of the oligonucleotide motif selected from the group consisting of 2′-substituted ribonucleoside, 2′-O-substituted ribonucleoside, 2′-substituted arabinoside, and 2′-O-substituted arabinoside; N 1 -N 3 , at each occurrence, is independently i) a nucleotide or a nucleotide derivative; N m and N m , at each occurrence, is independently a nucleotide, nucleotide derivative or non-nucleotide linkage; provided that the compound contains less than 3 consecutive guanosine nucleotides; wherein the oligonucleotide motif would be immune stimulatory but for the one or more modified nucleotides that suppresses the activity of the oligonucleotide motif; wherein m is a number from 0 to about 30; and wherein the IRO is an antagonist of an agonist of TLR7, TLR8 and/or TLR9; provided that the at least two oligonucleotides are not antisense oligonucleotides.