Prof Michael Hertl Professor and Chairman, Department of Dermatology, Philipps- University Marburg, Germany

Clinical Interests

• Autoimmune diseases of the skin (bullous skin diseases, scleroderma, lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, lichen planus, vasculitides)
• Cutaneous drug reactions
• Inflammatory skin disorders (atopic dermatitis, psoriasis)
• Allergology
• Urticaria
• Phototherapy of inflammatory and neoplastic disorders
• Biologics in inflammatory disorders

Scientific Interestes

• T cell-mediated pathogenesis of autoimmune bullous skin diseases (pemphigus, bullous pemphigoid etc.) and other cutaneous autoimmune diseases (scleroderma etc.)
• Development of diagnostic tools for autoimmune bullous disorders
• Physiological role of adhesion molecules in dermo-epidermal adhesion
• Regulatory T cells in autoimmune disorders
• T cell recognition of allergens
• Immune pathogenesis of autoimmune urticaria
• Hapten (drugs, metal ions) recognition of T cells in cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions
• Cytochrome P450-dependent drug metabolism

Selected Publications

Hertl M., Bohlen H., Jugert F., Boecker C., Knaup R., Merk H.F.
Predominance of epidermal CD8+ T lymphocytes in bullous cutaneous reactions caused by beta-lactam antibiotics.
J. Invest. Dermatol. 101:794-799, 1993

Hertl M., Neckers L., Katz S.I.
Inhibition of IFN-γ-induced ICAM-1 expression on human keratinocytes by phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides is the consequence of antisense-specific and antisense non-specific effects.
J. Invest. Dermatol. 104:813-818, 1995

Hertl M., Asada H., Katz S.I.
Murine epidermal Langerhans cells do not express the low affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E, FCεRII (CD23).
J. Invest. Dermatol. 106:221-224, 1996

Hertl M., Amagai M., Sundaram H., Stanley J.R., Ishii K., Katz S.I.
Recognition of desmoglein 3 by autoreactive T cells in pemphigus vulgaris patients and normals.
J. Invest. Dermatol. 110:62-66, 1998

Büdinger L., Borradori L., Yee C., Eming R., Ferencik S., Grosse-Wilde H., Merk H.F., Yancey K., Hertl M.
Identification and characterization of autoreactive T cell responses to bullous pemphigoid (BP) antigen 2 in patients with BP and HLA-DQß1*0301 positive normals.
J. Clin. Invest. 102:2082-2089, 1998

Büdinger L., Neuser N., Totzke U., Merk H. F., Hertl M.
Preferential detection of TCR-Vß17+ peripheral and cutaneous T cells in Nickel-induced contact dermatitis.
J. Immunol 167:6038-6044, 2001

Hofmann S., Thoma-Uszynski S., Stauber A, Schuler G, Borradori L, Hertl M.
Severity and phenotype of bullous pemphigoid relate to autoantibody profile against the N- and C-terminal regions of the BP180 ectodomain.
J. Invest. Dermatol. 119:1065-1073, 2002

Veldman C., Stauber A., Uter W., Schuler G., Wassmuth R., Hertl M.
Dichotomy of autoreactive T helper 1 and 2 responses to desmoglein 3 in patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and healthy carriers of PV-associated HLA class II alleles
J. Immunol., 170:635-642, 2003

Veldman C, Gebhard KL, Uter W, Wassmuth R, Grötzinger J, Schultz E, Hertl M.
T cell recognition of desmoglein 3 peptides in patients with pemphigus vulgaris and healthy individuals.
J. Immunol. 172:3883-3892, 2004

Thoma-Uszynski S, Uter W, Schwietzke S, Hofmann SC, Hunziker T, Bernard P,
Treudler R, Zouboulis C, Schuler G, Borradori L, Hertl M. BP230 and BP180 autoantibodies in bullous pemphigoid.
J. Invest. Dermatol. 122:1413-1422, 2004

Veldman C, Höhne A.., Dieckmann D., Schuler G., Hertl M.
Type I regulatory T cells specific for desmoglein 3 predominate in healthy individuals compared to patients with pemphigus vulgaris.
J. Immunol. 172:6468-6475, 2004

Bekou V, Thoma-Uszynski S, Wendler O, Uter W, Schwietzke S, Hunziker T, Zouboulis CC, Schuler G, Sorokin L, Hertl M.
Detection of laminin 5-specific auto-antibodies in mucous membrane and bullous pemphigoid sera by ELISA.
J. Invest. Dermatol. 124 (4):732-40, 2005

Eming R, Rech J, Kalden JR, Schuler G, Harrer T, Hertl M.
Removal of pathogenic autoantibodies in patients with severe pemphigus by immunoadsorption.
Dermatology. 2006;212(2):177-87.

Veldman C, Pahl A, Beissert S, Dieckmann D, Schuler G, Hertl M.
Inhibition of the transcription factor Foxp3 converts desmoglein 3-specific type I regulatory T cells into autoaggressive T helper 2-like cells.
J Immunol. 2006 Mar 1;176(5):3215-22.

Thoma-Uszysnki S, Uter W, Schwietzke S, Schuler G, Borradori L, Hertl M. Autoreactive T and B cells from bullous pemphigoid (BP) patients recognize identical regions of BP180 and BP230.
J Immunol. 2006 Feb 1;176(3):2015-23

Müller R, Svoboda V, Wenzel E, Gebert S, Hunzelmann N, Muller HH, Hertl M.
IgG reactivity against non-conformational NH-terminal epitopes of the desmoglein 3 ectodomain relates to clinical activity and phenotype of pemphigus vulgaris.
Exp Dermatol. 2006;15(8):606-14

Hertl M, Eming R, Veldman C.
T cell control in autoimmune bullous skin disorders.
J Clin Invest. 2006 May;116(5):1159-66.