Research Unit 5489
Understanding aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling in skin disorders
Research Unit 5489
Understanding aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling in skin disorders
Welcome
The research unit (FOR) 5489 is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and started its work at the beginning of 2023. As part of this research unit, scientists from the IUF – Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine and the Universities of Düsseldorf, Bonn, Oldenburg and Magdeburg are investigating the ambivalence of the AHR signaling pathway in skin diseases. The project is coordinated by the IUF (spokesperson: Prof. Jean Krutmann; co-spokesperson: Dr. Thomas Haarmann-Stemmann).
Research units enable researchers to pursue current and pressing issues in their areas of research and take innovative directions in their work. They are funded for up to eight years. In total, the DFG is currently funding 199 Research Units, 12 Clinical Research Units and 17 Centres for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (as of December 2024).
We would like to better understand the precise role of the AHR signaling in a specific clinical context, and translate this information into innovative preventive and therapeutic strategies.
Our research
Why is the aryl hydrocarbon receptor so exciting?
Signal transduction in cells plays a central role and can be targeted for disease prevention and therapy. One player that receives signals and subsequently acts as a switch for transcription of genetic information is the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, short AHR. The AHR signaling pathway is increasingly seen as an interesting therapeutic target.
Scientists at IUF have shown that the AHR is present in virtually all skin cells and plays an important role in skin health. It is still unclear why the activation of the AHR sometimes has a positive effect on skin health and sometimes a negative one. It seems that the AHR has two faces, reminiscent of the Roman god of beginnings and endings, Janus.
What exactly is the research group working on?
The research unit starts from the hypothesis that the outcome of AHR activation (good or bad for the patient) depends on the context, i.e. whether the skin is healthy or pre-damaged by inflammation or environmental influences.
In order to test this hypothesis and to determine the corresponding influencing variables, an ambitious interdisciplinary research program has been developed in which a broad spectrum of methods is used, including investigations in 3D skin models, samples from biobanks and mouse models. In addition, reference molecules will be used in the individual subprojects, enabling a final comparative bioinformatic analysis. The focus of the work is on chronic inflammatory skin diseases such as neurodermatitis and also Lupus erythematosus, white and black skin cancer, and adverse drug reactions.
Specifically, the nine individual projects of the research unit will explore the role of the AHR pathway in the aforementioned skin diseases, with particular emphasis on skin-gut-microbiome interactions, the role of retinoic acid and selected pharmaceuticals, the influence on malignant transformation, and the relevance of the AHR repressor.
Principal investigators
