To improve therapeutic options for SLE and because of the pathophysiological role of nucleic acid-recognizing TLRs in SLE, inhibitory oligonucleotides (INH-ODN) were developed which interfere with the activation of TLR7 (and hTLR8), TLR9 and possibly also with TLR3 to block the stimulatory activity of self-DNA- or self-RNA-complexes. Here, TLR9 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.