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
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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
-
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
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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
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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
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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