Cutaneous Immunology

我们致力于治疗和预防免疫介导的皮肤病。皮肤通常是与病原体和过敏原接触的第一点，但对皮肤免疫系统如何清除这些挑战的了解相对较少。这些知识对于理解皮肤病和相关疾病的机制以及开发更有效的皮肤药物和疫苗递送方式至关重要。越来越清楚的是，皮肤屏障功能障碍是特应性湿疹发展的重要第一步，特应性湿疹是英国最常见的皮肤病之一，通常与哮喘和鼻炎有关。屏障功能障碍促进过敏原和微生物的进入，最终导致皮肤炎症。后者用局部免疫抑制剂治疗，但这些都不是治愈性的，而且还有副作用的风险。我们希望了解将屏障功能障碍和皮肤炎症联系起来的步骤，因为这些将为新的治疗方法提供机会。特别是，我们将探索修复屏障功能的方法，并了解新型免疫细胞在炎症中的作用。这些发现将对特应性湿疹，但也对其他形式的炎症性皮肤病，并确实为改善疫苗输送到皮肤的影响。

We are working towards treatment and prevention of immune-mediated skin disease. The skin is often the first point of contact with pathogens and allergens, but relatively little is understood about how the cutaneous immune system clears these challenges. Such knowledge is vitally important to understanding the mechanisms of skin disease and related diseases, and for developing more effective ways of cutaneous drug and vaccine delivery. It is increasingly clear that skin barrier dysfunction is an important first step in the development of atopic eczema, one of the commonest skin diseases in the UK, and often associated with asthma and rhinitis. The barrier dysfunction promotes entry of allergens and microbes which eventually lead to skin inflammation. The latter is treated with topical immune suppressants, but these are not curative and also carry risks of side effects. We wish to understand the steps linking barrier dysfunction and skin inflammation, as these will provide opportunities for new treatments. In particular, we will explore ways to repair barrier function and to understand the roles of novel immune cells in contributing to the inflammation. These findings will have implications for atopic eczema, but also for other forms of inflammatory skin disease and indeed for the improvement of vaccine delivery in to the skin.