Meeting report - Desmosome dysfunction and disease: Alpine desmosome disease meeting

Volker Spindler; Brenda Gerull; Kathleen J Green; Andrew P Kowalczyk; Rudolf Leube; Ali J Marian; Hendrik Milting; Eliane J Müller; Carien Niessen; Aimee S Payne; Nicolas Schlegel; Enno Schmidt; Pavel Strnad; Ritva Tikkanen; Franziska Vielmuth; Jens Waschke

doi:10.1242/jcs.260832

Meeting report - Desmosome dysfunction and disease: Alpine desmosome disease meeting

J Cell Sci. 2023 Jan 1;136(1):jcs260832. doi: 10.1242/jcs.260832. Epub 2023 Jan 3.

Authors

Volker Spindler¹, Brenda Gerull², Kathleen J Green^{3

4}, Andrew P Kowalczyk^{5

6}, Rudolf Leube⁷, Ali J Marian⁸, Hendrik Milting⁹, Eliane J Müller^{10

11}, Carien Niessen¹², Aimee S Payne¹³, Nicolas Schlegel¹⁴, Enno Schmidt¹⁵, Pavel Strnad¹⁶, Ritva Tikkanen¹⁷, Franziska Vielmuth¹⁸, Jens Waschke¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
² Comprehensive Heart Failure Center, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
³ Department of Pathology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁴ Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁵ Department of Dermatology, Penn State College of Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
⁶ Department of Cellular & Molecular Physiology, Penn State College of Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
⁷ Institute of Molecular and Cellular Anatomy, RWTH Aachen University, 52057 Aachen, Germany.
⁸ Center for Cardiovascular Genetics, Institute of Molecular Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁹ Erich und Hanna Klessmann-Institut für Kardiovaskuläre Forschung und Entwicklung, Klinik für Thorax- und Kardiovaskularchirurgie, Herz und Diabeteszentrum NRW, Universitätsklinikum der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Georgstr. 11, 32545 Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.
¹⁰ Dermfocus, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Department for BioMedical Research, Molecular Dermatology and Stem Cell Research, University of Bern, CH-3008 Bern, Switzerland.
¹¹ Department of Dermatology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland. Institute of Animal Pathology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
¹² Department Cell Biology of the Skin, Cologne Excellence Cluster on Stress Responses in Aging-associated Diseases (CECAD), Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University Hospital of Cologne, University of Cologne, 50931 Cologne, Germany.
¹³ Department of Dermatology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
¹⁴ Department of General, Visceral, Transplant, Vascular and Paediatric Surgery University Hospital Würzburg, Wuerzburg 97080, Germany.
¹⁵ Department of Dermatology, University of Lübeck, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.
¹⁶ Medical Clinic III, Gastroenterology, Metabolic Diseases and Intensive Care, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
¹⁷ Institute of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Giessen, Friedrichstrasse 24, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
¹⁸ Chair of Vegetative Anatomy, Institute of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität LMU Munich, 80336 Munich, Germany.

PMID: 36594662
DOI: 10.1242/jcs.260832

Abstract

Desmosome diseases are caused by dysfunction of desmosomes, which anchor intermediate filaments (IFs) at sites of cell-cell adhesion. For many decades, the focus of attention has been on the role of actin filament-associated adherens junctions in development and disease, especially cancer. However, interference with the function of desmosomes, their molecular constituents or their attachments to IFs has now emerged as a major contributor to a variety of diseases affecting different tissues and organs including skin, heart and the digestive tract. The first Alpine desmosome disease meeting (ADDM) held in Grainau, Germany, in October 2022 brought together international researchers from the basic sciences with clinical experts from diverse fields to share and discuss their ideas and concepts on desmosome function and dysfunction in the different cell types involved in desmosome diseases. Besides the prototypic desmosomal diseases pemphigus and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, the role of desmosome dysfunction in inflammatory bowel diseases and eosinophilic esophagitis was discussed.

Publication types

Congress
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cell Adhesion
Desmosomes* / physiology
Disease*
Humans
Pemphigus

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding