Dr. Leopold Eckhart

Prof. Dr. Erwin Tschachler

Medical University of Vienna
Department of Dermatology
Division of Skin Biology and Pathobiology
Waehringer Guertel 18-20
A-1090 Vienna
Austria

phone: +43-1-40400-5833
fax:      +43-1-40400-5167
leopold.eckhart@meduniwien.ac.at

www.meduniwien.ac.at/skinbiology

Research focus

• Programmed cell death of epidermal keratinocytes. Roles of proteases, in particular caspases, and nucleases in keratinocyte differentiation. Molecular regulation of DNA degradation in the epidermis
  
  
• Enzymatic activities in the stratum corneum. Focus on the metabolism of nucleic acids, proteins, and amino acids. Contribution of enzymes to protective functions of the the stratum corneum
  
  
• Antimicrobial defense of the skin. Mechanisms of regulation of cutaneous anti-bacterial proteins
  
  
• Evolution of the epidermal barrier. Application of comparative genomics and phylogenetic methods to skin biology

Important publications

• Fischer H, Szabo S, Scherz J, Jaeger K, Rossiter H, Buchberger M, Ghannadan M, Hermann M, Theussl HC, Tobin DJ, Wagner EF, Tschachler E, Eckhart L (2011) Essential role of the keratinocyte-specific endonuclease DNase1L2 in the removal of nuclear DNA from hair and nails. J Invest Dermatol 131:1208-1215
  
  
• Fischer H, Scherz J, Szabo S, Mildner M, Benarafa C, Torriglia A, Tschachler E, Eckhart L (2011) DNase 2 is the main DNA-degrading enzyme of the stratum corneum. PLoS ONE 6:e17581
  
  
• Szabo S, Jaeger K, Fischer H, Tschachler E, Parson W, Eckhart L (2011) In situ labeling of DNA reveals inter-individual variation in nuclear DNA breakdown in hair and may be useful to predict success of forensic genotyping of hair. Int J Legal Med, in press. DOI: 10.1007/s00414-011-0566-5
  
  
• Barresi C, Stremnitzer C, Mlitz V, Kezic S, Kammeyer A, Ghannadan M, Posa-Markaryan K, Selden C, Tschachler E, Eckhart L (2011) Increased sensitivity of histidinemic mice to ultraviolet B radiation suggests a crucial role of endogenous urocanic acid in photoprotection. J Invest Dermatol 131:188-194
  
  
• Langbein L, Eckhart L, Rogers MA, Praetzel-Wunder S, Schweizer J (2010) Against the rules: The human keratin K80 - Two functional alternative splice variants, K80 and K80.1, with special cellular localization in a wide range of epithelia. J Biol Chem 285:36909-36921
  
  
• Abtin A, Eckhart L, Gläser R, Gmeiner R, Mildner M, Tschachler E (2010) The antimicrobial heterodimer S100A8/S100A9 (calprotectin) is up-regulated by bacterial flagellin in human epidermal keratinocytes. J Invest Dermatol 130:2423-2430
  
  
• Mildner M, Jin J, Eckhart L, Kezic S, Gruber F, Barresi C, Stremnitzer C, Buchberger M, Mlitz V, Ballaun C, Sterniczky B, Födinger D, Tschachler E (2010) Knockdown of filaggrin impairs the diffusion barrier function and increases the UV sensitivity in a human skin model. J Invest Dermatol 130:2286-2294
  
  
• Abtin A, Eckhart L, Mildner M, Ghannadan M, Harder J, Schröder JM, Tschachler E (2009) Degradation by stratum corneum proteases prevents endogenous RNase inhibitor from blocking antimicrobial activities of RNase 5 and RNase 7. J Invest Dermatol 129:2193-2201
  
  
  
• Eckhart L, Dalla Valle L, Jaeger K, Ballaun C, Szabo S, Nardi A,
  Buchberger M, Hermann M, Alibardi L, Tschachler E (2008) Identification
  of reptilian genes encoding hair keratin-like proteins suggests a new
  scenario for the evolutionary origin of hair. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
  105:18419-18423
  
  
• Eckhart L, Schmidt M, Mildner M, Mlitz V, Abtin A, Ballaun C, Fischer H, Mrass P, Tschachler E (2008) Histidase expression in human epidermal keratinocytes: Regulation by differentiation status and all-trans retinoic acid. J Dermatol Sci 50:209-215
  
  
• Abtin A, Eckhart L, Mildner M, Gruber F, Schröder JM, Tschachler E (2008) Flagellin is the principal inducer of the antimicrobial peptide S100A7c (psoriasin) in human epidermal keratinocytes exposed to Escherichia coli. FASEB J 22:2168-2176
  
  
• Eckhart L, Fischer H, Barken KB, Tolker-Nielsen T, Tschachler E (2007) DNase1L2 suppresses biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Br J Dermatol 156:1342-1345
  
  
• Fischer H, Eckhart L, Mildner M, Jaeger K, Buchberger M, Ghannadan M, Tschachler E (2007) DNase1L2 degrades nuclear DNA during corneocyte formation. J Invest Dermatol 127:24-30
  
  
• Fischer H, Rossiter H, Ghannadan M, Jaeger K, Barresi C, Declercq W, Tschachler E, Eckhart L (2005) Caspase-14 but not caspase-3 is processed during the development of fetal mouse epidermis. Differentiation 73:406-413
  
  
• Fischer H, Stichenwirth M, Dockal M, Ghannadan M, Buchberger M, Bach J, Kapetanopoulos A, Declercq W, Tschachler E, Eckhart L (2004) Stratum corneum-derived caspase-14 is catalytically active. FEBS Lett 577:446-450
  
  
• Eckhart L, Declercq W, Ban J, Rendl M, Lengauer B, Mayer C, Lippens S, Vandenabeele P, Tschachler E (2000) Terminal differentiation of human keratinocytes and stratum corneum formation is associated with caspase-14 activation. J Invest Dermatol 115:1148-1151
  
  

 

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