SEBACEOUS GLAND INTEGRITY IN HEALTHY AND DISEASED SKIN

How one perceives the sebaceous gland likely depends on the individual age. For the teenager this skin appendage is a source of despair and discomfort, as the sebaceous gland is the place where acne happens. However, also in aging of the skin, declining or aberrant function of this gland can result in an impaired or changed production of fats / lipids on the skin surface, which may cause dry or oily skin, respectively. In the mammalian evolution important functions of this gland, that secretes its contents into the hair shaft, appear to be the maintenance of a functioning fur surface, but also the secretion of pheromones and olfactory signals. Did this organ lose its relevance in the scarcely furry human? Daniel Töröcsik team at the University of Debrecen and our workgroup at the MUW do not think so, because recent research has shown that this gland is a site where hormones and signaling compounds are synthesized, which have important roles in skin development, wound healing and inflammation. Therefore we will use cell- and organismal models where the the cells of the sebaceous gland or the whole organ are dysfunctional. There we will study which signaling compounds are missing or changed when the structure of this little organ is damaged. Using technologies which allow us to localize metabolic processes , lipids and other metabolites in sections of this organ we will for the first time be able to identify and localize such signaling compounds in functional and impaired sebaceous glands. The learnings from these model studies we will apply to investigate whether these lipid signals are also changed in a human disease with involvement of the sebaceous gland. In Pemphigus foliaceus, a bullous autoimmune disease of the skin we will investigate whether gland derived inflammatory signals are changed. This work will allow us to better understand the role of this gland, which obviously after all is not an orphan of evolution, in skin inflammation and regeneration.