Professor of Dermatology

Research Division Biology and Pathobiology of the Skin
Department of Dermatology
Anna Spiegel Forschungsgebäude, Ebene 6, Labor 5
Lazarettgasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Phone: +43 (0)1 40400 - 73772
FAX: +43 (0)1 40400 - 73585

E-mail: erwin.tschachler@meduniwien.ac.at

Homepage: http://www.skinbiology.at/index.php

Research Interests
Mast cell function, skin barrier, skin inflammation.

Function of mast cells in skin differentiation and inflammation

The crosstalk between resident skin cells and immune cells plays an important role in health and disease. We have shown recently that the mast cell mediator histamine can repress the expression of differentiation-associated proteins in keratinocytes.
Mast cells therefore are able to directly influence epidermal differentiation and consequently skin barrier function. An impaired skin barrier is a hallmark of inflammatory skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis and facilitates the invasion of noxious substances (e.g. allergens and irritants) into the skin as well as fluid loss to the outside.
Our main objective is to further elucidate the interaction of mast cells with other resident and passenger skin cells in inflammatory skin diseases.
In a first approach we have succeeded to isolate >95% pure dermal mast cells and are currently characterizing these cells phenotypically and functionally in vitro.