Notes from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dermatologische Forschung (ADF), Berlin,

Abstract

The 2005 ADF Annual Meeting was held in Innsbruck, Austria, 3–5 March, 2005, featuring an acclaimed workshop on ‘Wound healing and angiogenesis.’ Speakers: K. Alitalo, M. Detmar, S. Werner, N. Fusenig and others, as well as J. Ring (Munich), M. Maurer (Berlin), J. Baron (Aachen), and R. Dummer (Zürich) as ‘Quo vadis’ speakers, and D. Bickers (New York) as Günter-Goerz-Lecturer (honoring lifetime academic achievements in investigative dermatology) and G. Wick (Innsbruck) as Special Guest Lecturer. Besides six poster and six travel awards, several prestigious awards were bestowed at the Innsbruck ADF Meeting to honor outstanding research achievements within the ADF community. Awardees: ECARF-ADF Award in Allergy Research (sponsor: European Center for Allergy and Research Foundation, Berlin): Professor E. Jensen-Jarolim, University of Vienna, Institute of Physiology and Pathphysiology, for her work suggesting that antiacid medication promotes type I allergies and Dr J. Gutermuth, Center for Allergy and Environment, Department of Dermatology, Technical University of Munich, for his work on intranasal DC vaccination against airborne allergens. Egon-Macher Award (Young Investigator Prize, sponsor: 3M): Dr D. Schrama, Department of Dermatology, University of Würzburg, for demonstrating a shift from systemic to site-specific memory by tumor-targeted IL-2 in the mouse model of B16-melanoma. Langerhans-Award for distinguished investigators within the ADF community (sponsor: BiogenIdec): Dr H. Jonuleit, Department of Dermatology, University of Mainz, for his work on the development and function of regulatory T cells and Professor S. Beissert, Department of Dermatology, University of Münster, for his contributions to analyzing the immunological mechanisms that underlie T cell-mediated skin inflammation. ADF Oncology Award (sponsor: Erwin and Irmgard Egner-Foundation): Professor A. Schneeberger, University of Vienna, for his contributions to the development of innovative vaccination strategies in melanoma therapy. The 2006 ADF Annual Meeting is held in Aachen, Germany, March 23–25, 2006. Besides the prizes listed above, as well as lavish poster and travel awards, two additional awards for outstanding translational research that exemplarily bridges the bench-to-bedside gap will be awarded on-site (sponsor: Dermatologikum, Hamburg). Details on the 2006 Annual Meeting and the ADF Awards, see http://www.adf-online.de The ADF Board of Directors wishes to honor, and to call attention to, selected outstanding papers of general interest that were recently published by ADF members (bold print) in high-ranking non-dermatological journals. Such highlights include, for example: Rupec R A, Jundt F, Rebholz B, Eckelt B, Weindl G, Herzinger T, Flaig M J, Moosmann S, Plewig G, Dorken B, Forster I, Huss R, Pfeffer K. Stroma-mediated dysregulation of myelopoiesis in mice lacking I kappa B alpha. Immunity 2005: 22: 479–491. Traidl-Hoffmann C, Mariani V, Hochrein H, Karg K, Wagner H, Ring J, Mueller M J, Jakob T, Behrendt H. Pollen-associated phytoprostanes inhibit dendritic interleukin-12 production and augment T helper type 2 polarization. J Exp Med 2005: 201: 627–635. Sitaru C, Mihai S, Otto C, Chiriac M T, Hausser I, Dotterweich B, Saito H, Rose C, Ishiko A, Zillikens D. Induction of dermal-epidermal separation in mice by passive transfer of antibodies specific to type VII collagen. J Clin Invest 2005: 115: 870–878. Petzelbauer P, Zacharowski P A, Miyazaki Y, Friedl P, Wickenhauser G, Castellino F J, Gröger M, Wolff K, Zacharowski K. The fibrin-derived peptide Bβ15-42 protects the myocardium against ischemia-reperfusion injury. Nat Med 2005: 11: 298–304. Meller S, Winterberg F, Gilliet M, Mueller A, Lauceviciute I, Rieker J, Neumann N J, Kubitza R, Gombert M, Bunemann E, Wiesner U, Franken-Kunkel P, Kanzler H, Dieu-Nosjean R, Amara A, Ruzicka T, Lehmann P, Zlotnik A, Homey B. Ultraviolet radiation-induced injury, chemokines, and leukocyte recruitment: an amplification cycle triggering cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum 2005: 52: 1504–1516. Kriehuber E, Bauer W, Charbonnier A S, Winter D, Amatschek S, Tamandl D, Schweifer N, Stingl G, Maurer D. Balance between NF-kappaB and JNK/AP-1 activity controls dendritic cell life and death. Blood 2005: 106: 75–83. Kajiya K, Hirakawa S, Ma B, Drinnenberg I, Detmar M. Hepatocyte growth factor promotes lymphatic vessel formation and function. EMBO J 2005: 24: 2885–2895. Maurer M, Wedemeyer J, Metz M, Piliponsky A M, Weller K, Chatterjea D, Clouthier D E, Yanagisawa M M, Tsai M, Galli S J. Mast cells promote homeostasis by limiting endothelin-1-induced toxicity. Nature 2005: 432: 512–516. Zenz R, Eferl R, Kenner L, Florin L, Hummerich L, Mehic D, Scheuch H, Angel P, Tschachler E, Wagner E F. Psoriasis-like skin disease and arthritis caused by inducible epidermal deletion of Jun proteins. Nature 2005: 437: 369–375. Schön M P, Boehncke W H. Psoriasis. N Engl J Med 2005: 352: 1899–1912. Reich K, Nestle F O, Papp K, Ortonne J P, Evans R, Guzzo C, Li S, Dooley L T, Griffiths C E; EXPRESS study investigators. Infliximab induction and maintenance therapy for moderate-to-severe psoriasis: a phase III, multicentre, double-blind trial. Lancet 2005: 366: 1367–1374.