Bacterial infection stimulates the host to mount a rapid inflammatory response. A 6-base DNA motif consisting of an unmethylated CpG dinucleotide flanked by two 5' purines and two 3' pyrimidines was shown to contribute to this response by inducing polyclonal B-cell (3,4,(7)(8)(9)11). Recent work from our laboratory suggested that this B-cell stimulation was mediated by a 6-base nt motif consisting of an unmethylated CpG dinucleotide flanked by two 5' purines and two 3' pyrimidines (12). This motif is expressed nearly 20 times more frequently in bacterial than vertebrate DNA (12)(13)(14).In addition to B-cell activation, the innate immune response to bacterial infection is characterized by the production of immunomodulatory cytokines (15,16). These include interleukin (IL) 6, which contributes to T-and B-cell activation (17-20), IFN-y, which (25)(26)(27).The concentration of cytokine in culture supernatants was determined by using a modification of the assay system described above. Supernatants were serially diluted in PBS/1% bovine serum albumin and incubated on anti-cytokine-coated microtiter plates for 2 hr. Biotinylated anti-cytokine antibody followed by avidin-conjugated alkaline phosphatase were used in a colorimetric assay to detect the presence of bound cytokine (27).Cell Purification. Mononuclear cells were incubated with biotinylated anti-CD4, anti-CD8, anti-CD11, anti-CD14, or