Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: Germany

Michael Bader’s project aims to develop novel angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) inhibitors to be applied to the skin for treating inflammatory skin diseases.

Alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) acting through its receptor, melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), is the most important regulator of melanogenesis (i.e., the production of melanin, the pigment of the skin) and also exerts significant anti-inflammatory actions in the skin. Therefore, MC1R may be a significant treatment target for inflammatory skin diseases and for prevention of melanoma, and several agonists are already clinically approved or currently being developed.

Michael and his group have discovered that ACE2 limits melanogenesis in mouse and human skin by degrading α-MSH. Thus, ACE2 inhibition in the skin may be a novel strategy for dermatological diseases by stabilizing α-MSH and thereby activating MC1R.

However, ACE2 is also a protective enzyme in the circulation limiting the actions of the blood pressure regulatory system, the renin-angiotensin system. Therefore, systemic inhibition of ACE2 may cause severe side-effects, making topical application of ACE2-inhibitors preferable.

Michael and his team have already tested a number of available ACE2-inhibiting compounds, but none were suitable for topical application “as-is”. In this project, they will chemically design variants of known ACE2 inhibitors to optimize for skin permeation and test them in a mouse model of vitiligo. If they are successful, these compounds can also be tested in other inflammatory skin diseases, such as acne and psoriasis, for melanoma prevention, and perhaps even for cosmetic applications, such as skin tanning and prevention of hair greying.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: USA

Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a cancer of white blood cells, can look like atopic dermatitis. This project from Larisa Geskin aims to develop and validate a screening test for patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) which will aid in identifying undiagnosed CTCL in these patients.

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-13 (IL-13) are essential cytokines (i.e., signaling molecules released from cells to the environment in order to affect other cells), in the pathogenesis of AD. Targeting these cytokines with antibodies such as dupilumab or tralokinumab has proven to be highly effective for therapy of AD.

However, patients with AD may have an increased risk for lymphoma, especially CTCL. There are numerous reports of patients with AD who received dupilumab and later developed CTCL, lethal in some cases. Therefore, therapies targeting IL-4/IL-13 are currently contraindicated for patients with CTCL. However, differentiation between AD and CTCL is difficult because of similar manifestations in the skin and lack of specific markers (i.e., molecules that are uniquely present or expressed in a given condition) for these diseases.

In their preliminary studies Larisa and her team have screened the blood of patients with biopsy-confirmed CTCL and AD for 18 highly selected potential biomarkers using an efficient screening method. Of the 18 tested biomarkers, 9 demonstrated sensitivity and specificity potentially adequate to differentiate CTCL from benign dermatoses. These data serve as a proof of principle and justify further studies, as described in this proposed project, to test a broader set of biomarkers to find the most promising biomarker panel with the highest sensitivity and specificity to develop a simple, robust and inexpensive test, which may be widely accessible to all treating physicians before initiating therapy for AD.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: Denmark

Gregers Andersen’s project aims to understand the role of disease-related mutations of a central inflammation-regulating protein on immune cells in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a severe autoimmune disease in which our immune system is erroneously activated. This leads to inflammation that may destroy tissue, such as the kidney. SLE often manifests itself with visible skin rashes that are difficult to treat and debilitating for the patient. Current options for treatment of SLE are insufficient and still rely heavily on steroids as the mainstay of treatment.

Both environmental and genetic factors contribute to SLE pathogenesis. The strongest association between SLE and the information encoded in our genetic material is observed for a specific mutation in a gene called ITGAM. This gene codes for a protein called αMβ2 located at the surface of our immune cells. When the αMβ2 protein recognizes specific proteins on other cells, the immune cell contributes to dampening inflammation. When the ITGAM gene is mutated, the immune cells are less efficient in suppressing inflammation.

Using the most powerful microscope available, Gregers’ research project will investigate in atomic detail how the mutation interferes with the normal function of the αMβ2 protein. Furthermore, the effects of a new antibody capable of increasing the activity of αMβ2 will be exhaustively investigated. Experiments comparing the effects of this antibody on immune cells from healthy and SLE individuals will be central in deciding whether the antibody is a candidate for a new type of therapeutic agent.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: Netherlands

The aim of Ellen’s project is to improve the understanding of the role of skin protein filaggrin (FLG) in regulating and controlling epidermal keratinocyte robustness and differentiation.

Ever since the discovery that loss-of-function mutations in the FLG gene are the main risk factor for developing Atopic Dermatitis (AD), many studies have aimed to relate the presence or absence of FLG to processes involved in skin homeostasis. The filaggrin protein is comprised of several repetitive elements as well as two unique domains, A and B. While many mutations in the filaggrin monomers are known to be important in AD, the role of the A and B domains have been less studied.

Previous investigation, featuring collaborator and postdoctoral fellow Jos P.H. Smits, discovered that mutations in these domains affect the expression of genes that are important for terminal differentiation of epidermal keratinocytes. The terminal differentiation of keratinocytes is important for the formation of the skin barrier. In this project, the team want to expand initial findings into elaborate studies using 3D skin organoids, also called “human skin equivalents” combined with in-depth molecular and functional analyses. Ellen’s group has developed many of these 3D skin equivalents to resemble both the structure and environment of real skin. By exposing the skin equivalents to relevant environmental factors, they will study how mutations in the filaggrin A and B domains affect keratinocyte differentiation and terminal fate and ultimately the overall skin barrier function. The hope is to identify potential new targets for therapeutic interventions in AD by modifying the expression of filaggrin and thereby regulating the barrier function of the skin.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: USA

Jeffrey Cheng’s project aims to improve our understanding and discrimination of chronic atypical skin rashes which do not fit into well-defined clinical categories. Jeffrey along with his team will approach this by first mapping gene expression variations on a single cell level for a number of prototypical rash types. This will allow them to create a framework to identify variations that can discriminate between well characterized rash types, which each have different treatment regimens. While they have already done this for rashes with atopic dermatitis- and psoriasis-like features, this project will add information about rashes with features common to cutaneous sarcoidosis and lupus erythematosus. Based on these findings, Jeffrey aims to establish a more accessible approach to classify these rashes by assessing tissue samples for presence of disease-relevant proteins.

If successful, Jeffrey and his team will provide important guidance for optimal classification and subsequent treatment of otherwise indeterminant rashes.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: Denmark

Claus Johansen’s project investigates the role of the protein ERAP2 in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Psoriasis is considered an autoimmune disease – i.e., a disease in which the T-cells of the immune system attack and destroy the body’s own cells by error. During an exposure to external factors (peptides, bacteria etc) a system of specialized cells engulfs, digests, and presents peptide fragments (antigens) of these external factors on their surface to the body’s immune cells – usually cytotoxic CD8+ T-cells – which, once activated, then surveil, identify, and destroy foreign elements containing that specific peptide or peptides with very similar overall structure. The peptides are presented by a specific receptor, called the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) receptor and it is well-known that a particular subtype of this receptor, the HLA-C receptor is dominant in psoriatic patients – still, concrete disease-specific self-antigens have not yet been identified. Recent results have indicated that a protein, ERAP2, which facilitates the association of antigen peptides to HLA receptors may have a role to play in the erroneous recognition of self-antigens in autoimmune diseases like psoriasis. Claus and his team aim to clarify the role of this protein in the current proposal.

If successful, their project may help shed further light on the autoimmune characteristics of psoriasis – and eventually help guide new treatment approaches.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: Switzerland

With this project, Salomé LeibundGut-Landmann along with collaborator Giuseppe Ianiri aims to investigate the importance of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activation in relation to treatment of allergic skin reactions, including atopic dermatitis.

AhR is a so-called transcription factor, activated by cyclic (aromatic) compounds, which regulates cellular signaling. It is known that AhR is important for maintaining the skin barrier and a healthy cutaneous immune system and Salomé and her team propose that this, at least in part, is regulated by the release of such aromatic compounds by the commensal (non-pathogenic) and very common skin fungal class, Malassezia.

Using both human keratinocytes and mouse models, this hypothesis will be tested and the biosynthetic pathways of aromatic binding partners (ligands) for Ahr produced by Malassezia strains will be characterized.

If successful, the understanding of the interplay between commensal fungi as part of the skin microbiome and cellular maintenance of the skin barrier could provide novel approaches for treating allergic reactions and other skin inflammatory conditions, like atopic dermatitis.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: Australia

Asolina Braun, along with her team and colleagues Professor Anthony Purcell and Professor Johannes Kern, aims to identify and characterize the key self-antigens presented to autoreactive T-cells in psoriasis (PsO) patients. Specifically, she will look at molecules displayed by the major psoriasis genetic risk determinant to identify new treatment targets.

Psoriasis is believed to be an autoimmune disease in which T cells of the immune system recognize short protein sequences (antigens) from the body’s own cells and subsequently attack and destroy tissues inducing a chronic state of inflammation. The initial priming of the T-cells occurs when antigens are presented on the surface of cells by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) receptors, the same molecules that need to be matched in organ transplantations. Among the HLA molecules, the HLA-Cw6+ variant is particularly abundant in psoriatic patients (50% of all and 80% of early onset patients), and Asolina and her team aim to characterize the specific antigens presented by this particular HLA receptor to identify potential targets for future immune therapy like the induction of tolerance in food allergies. The team has already generated the peptide (antigen) library necessary to investigate targets and has created a transgenic mouse model containing the desired HLA receptor to present the antigens. They will also use patient-isolated T-cells to examine the responses and identify the most important peptide antigens contributing to the disease. In parallel, they will investigate if the original trigger of the autoimmune response is caused by peptides from virulent (disease-causing) strains of the environmental pathogenic bacteria, Streptococcus pyrogenes.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: Sweden

Ning Xu Landén’s project seeks to improve wound healing by identifying key regulators of cellular transition from inflammation to proliferation, a cardinal event during normal skin wound healing which is lacking in chronic wounds.

Ning and her team will approach this by mapping the spatiotemporal changes, both genetic, molecular and cellular, happening during the healing of acute wounds. Using this mapping, she and her team will then aim to identify the core genetic changes and intercellular crosstalk which regulates the inflammation to proliferation transition. Once identified, these changes and intercellular crosstalk will be characterized in more detail.

The ultimate goal is to identify the “master” regulators of inflammation-to-proliferation transition in order to improve and accelerate wound healing and thus minimize the risk of development of chronic wounds.

If successful, this project could pave the way for a novel approach to wound healing which may also eventually reduce subsequent scarring.

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2022

Geography: Sweden

Rikard Holmdahl and his team have discovered that mannan, a large natural sugar molecule found in yeast and plant cell walls, can induce a psoriasis-like condition in mice which strongly resembles human disease in terms of both genetics and clinical presentation.

The aim of Rikard’s research is to investigate the potential of this animal model to improve our understanding of disease mechanisms, predict disease progression and potentially treat psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis by modifying the sugar structure of mannan – hereby increasing the cellular level of reactive oxygen species which appears to be protective against disease development and progression.

In addition, Rikard’s team aims to identify new diagnostic (auto-)antibodies, found both in the mannan-induced psoriasis (MIP) mouse model and in a cohort of psoriatic arthritis patients, to improve early diagnosis and hence improve intervention.

If successful, the results could provide a new and more exact tool to further investigate what causes psoriasis and psoriasis arthritis, while at the same time potentially improving the efficiency of early diagnosis and subsequent treatment.