Charles Seminar Series 2021-22: Vitiligo: From bench to bedside, with guest speaker Prof Karin Schallreuter, Wednesday 13th October at 12PM (In-Person at the Charles Institute Seminar Room & online)
Date of Talk: 13th October 2021 at 12PM
Location: Charles Seminar Room (In-Person PAX 25) & Online (via Zoom)
Talk Title: Vitiligo: From bench to bedside
Speaker Details: Professor Karin U Schallreuter, University of Bradford, GB, University of Greifswald, Germany.
Short Biography: Professor Karin U Schallreuter received her medical degree from the University of Hamburg and defended her doctoral thesis there. At the University of Minnesota, she completed several post-doctoral positions pursuing her interests in biochemistry and the molecular biology of skin pigmentary disorders, and on oxidative stress with its possible consequences. She then became a certified dermatologist and Professor for Clinical and Experimental Dermatology at the University of Bradford in 1995, where she is a Emerita Professor. Karin was Clinical Director of the Institute for Pigmentary Disorders (Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald) from 1999-2009. She discovered the pseudo-catalase treatment for vitiligo and has successfully treated 1000s of vitiligo patients with this, including with adjunctive climatotherapy (Dead Sea, Jordan). She has published > 300 peer reviewed articles.
Abstract for talk: Common vitiligo is characterized by loss of inherited skin color and is the most common depigmentation disorder worldwide. Its cause is still unknown although there is accumulating evidence of massive epidermal oxidative stress via H2O2 and peroxynitrite in affected individuals. Vitiligo appears to represent a complex reaction pattern or syndrome, involving multiple etiologic factors, some of them necessarily working in concert. An initial step is usually an increase in endogenous or exogenous phenol/catechol concentration in the melanocyte environment (serving as a preferred surrogate substrate of tyrosinase) which competes with its physiological substrate, tyrosine. The conversion of these substrates into reactive quinones is reinforced by a disturbed redox balance (increasing H2O2). Such reactive quinones could give contribute to neoantigen formation. I will review the current state of our understanding of the etio-pathogenesis of vitiligo and discuss potential treatments.
If you are UCD-affiliated or a Consultant Dermatologist in Ireland and would like to register for this talk, please email charles@ucd.ie
