> |
The Institute of General Pharmacology offers a wide variety of expertise in the areas of cancer, wound healing, acute and chronic inflammation, signal transduction and kidney and skin diseases. With the help of our well characterized in vitro and in vivo models we are able to perform differential gene expression analysis (genomics, proteomics), to investigate signal transduction pathways and to develop and test therapy modalities. The design of gene delivery vectors and other forms of tumor-specific treatment is of special interest.
The institute is interested in the molecular mechanisms of inflammation that underlie the so-called cardinal symptoms of inflammation including redness, heat, swelling and pain. These symptoms are due to vasodilatation in pericapillary beds and increased vascular permeability to solutes, followed rapidly by neutrophil and other inflammatory cell infiltration. The complexity of this stage is reflected in the large number of inflammatory mediators that are synthesized and released in response to an injurious agent, such as C5a, proteases, toxic oxygen radicals, arachidonic acid metabolites, platelet activating factor and a variety of cytokines. We use renal mesangial cells as a model system to study the regulation of key enzymes and mediators under inflammatory conditions. In addition we are interested in the signaling pathways and functions of various inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 1, interleukin 18, interleukin 22 and tumor necrosis factor. The functional relevance of these mediators is evaluated in various experimental models of glomerulonephritis, hemorrhagic shock and endotoxemia. Cutaneous wound healing prototypically reflects processes that generally occur also in kidney injury and regeneration and form a second major research topic in the Institute.
|
