Trinity College Dublin Scientists Make Break Through in Eczema
Posted on: 07 April 2009
TCD’s New Animal Model of Eczema Has Potential of Assisting the Development of New Therapies in the Treatment of Eczema
An international collaboration between Trinity College Dublin (TCD) scientists and researchers in Scotland and Japan has developed a new animal model that reproduces a major genetic cause of human eczema. The TCD team was led by Professor Padraic Fallon, Science Foundation Ireland Stokes Professor of Translational Immunology at TCD’s Institute of Molecular Medicine and School of Medicine. This new discovery which has the potential of assisting the development of new therapies in the treatment of the disease has just been published online (April 6, 2009) in leading international journal Nature Genetics.
One in five Irish children suffer from eczema. Children with the condition have a predisposition to subsequently develop other allergic conditions, in particular asthma. Previous groundbreaking work by key collaborators in the study (Professor Irwin McLean, University of Dundee, and Professor Alan Irvine, Our Lady’s Children Hospital, Crumlin and TCD) on Irish children with eczema, had identified that that up to one in two cases of severe eczema in children is associated with mutations in a gene called filaggrin.
In this new study the collaborative team has identified an identical genetic mutation mechanism (technically known as a frame-shift mutation) in the mouse strain as was previously identified in children with eczema. Detailed immunological studies on the mouse revealed that this defect in the filaggrin gene leads to a loss of barrier integrity, making the skin more permeable to allergens that eventually leads to the induction of allergic skin inflammation, comparable to that seen in human eczema and related allergic diseases. Professor Sean Callanan (UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular & Biomedical Research) was also a collaborator in the current study.
Commenting on the significance of the discovery, Professor Fallon stated: “We have now developed a mouse model that reproduces a major genetic cause of human eczema. This new model opens the possibility of advancing our understanding of the early innate causes of eczema, including the exploration of the reasons why people with eczema progress to develop asthma. Ultimately we hope that the characterisation of this model will be a useful tool in development of new therapies for this major disease.”
The TCD researchers were funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). Commenting on the discovery, Professor Frank Gannon, Director General, SFI stated: “This is an excellent illustration of the high quality multidisciplinary research now been undertaken in Irish Higher Education Institutions and the substantial progress that has been made over the past number of years. I am sure that this discovery will support the development of new treatments for eczema patients in the future. It is research that has a real prospect of having an impact on many people in Ireland. I congratulate the research team on their achievements to-date and look forward to future outcomes.”
Professor Dermot Kelleher, Head of the TCD School of Medicine, concluded: “This is an outstanding example of the benefits of basic and clinical scientists working in synergy in a multidisciplinary way to address and solve the mechanisms of a common human disease. Eczema is one of the most common diseases of children in Ireland and this research offers new hopes for the treatment of this distressing condition.”
Ends
For media queries, contact TCD Press Officer, Caoimhe Ní Lochlainn, tel: 8962310 087-9958014. Professor Padraic Fallon is available for interviews on request.
Notes to Editor:
1. Embargoed until 18.00, GMT, Monday 6 April 2009.
2. The paper “A homozygous frameshift mutation in the mouse Flg gene facilitates enhanced percutaneous allergen priming”. Padraic G Fallon, Takashi Sasaki, Aileen Sandilands, Linda E Campbell, Sean P Saunders, Niamh E Mangan, John J Callanan, Hiroshi Kawasaki, Aiko Shiohama, Akiharu Kubo, John Sundberg, Richard B Presland, Philip Fleckman, Nobuyoshi Shimizu, Jun Kudoh, Alan D Irvine, Masayuki Amagai & W H Irwin McLean. Nature Genetics advance online publication, 6th April 2009 (doi: 10.1038/ng.358).
3. Professor Padraic Fallon is the Science Foundation Ireland TCD Professorship of Translation Immunology (2008). Previously he was a Wellcome Trust Fellow in the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He is an international expert on translational research involving the use of mouse transgenics and disease models to investigate inflammatory disorders. Professor Fallon acts as a consultant to national and international biotechnology companies on pre-clinical evaluation of new therapeutic strategies for immune-mediated diseases. His research group’s main focus is on investigating the cause of allergic conditions (atopic dermatitis/eczema, anaphylaxis and allergic asthma) and inflammatory bowel disease, and the development of new drugs for these conditions.