Research group Jakob Wikström

Skin is the largest human organ and has a complex architecture and regulation. With our research – rooted within the fields of metabolism and cell biology – we perform translational research aimed at developing better understanding and treatment of common and rare skin disease.

Cutting edge translational research of common and rare skin disease

Skin is the largest human organ and has a complex architecture and regulation. With our research – rooted within the fields of metabolism and cell biology – we perform translational research aimed at developing better understanding and treatment of common and rare skin disease. We use techniques such as advanced patient cell culture, primary human skin explant culture, confocal microscopy, metabolomics, extracellular flux analysis and RNA-sequencing. In particular, we focus on patient samples and perform bed-to-bench studies to decipher the underlying mechanisms.

Ongoing research projects

  • Chronic leg ulcers cause great suffering in the elderly and consume 2 % of the health care budget; yet the wound healing process is incompletely understood and today´s treatments are often inadequate.
  • Metabolism in skin wound healing. In this project we use mass spectrometry based metabolomics to study how metabolism changes in wound healing and examine if targeting metabolism is a viable approach to enhancing human wound healing.
  • Mitochondria in skin wound healing. In this project we use several molecular biology methods to study a certain mitochondrial gene found to be altered in clinical wound samples and how this gene impacts normal and impaired human wound healing as well as normal skin homeostasis.
  • Psoriasis is a severe inflammatory common skin condition that affects both the skin as well as other organs. While there has been recent significant therapeutic advances, metabolic aspects of the disease is largely unexplored.
  • Metabolism in psoriasis. In this project we use mass spectrometry based metabolomics and proteomics to study a large amount of patient biopsies to characterize the metabolic changes occurring in psoriasis. We use in vitro and in vivo disease models to decipher the role of altered metabolites and proteins in psoriasis pathophysiology.
  • There are many rare skin diseases and most of them lack targeted efficient therapies. Darier disease is a genetic skin condition caused by mutations in the ATP2A2 gene that encodes for the endoplasmic reticulum pump SERCA2.
  • Novel treatments for Darier disease. In this project we use in vitro screening approaches to identify novel treatments. Our aim is to identify novel compounds and take them all the way to clinical trials.
  • Co-morbidities or Darier disease. In collaboration with epidemiologist Martin Cederlöf we perform clinical cohort studes and patient registry research to identify medical conditions associated with Darier disease. We have proposed that Darier disease in fact is a systemic condition not just confined to the skin.

Group members

Jakob Wikström

MD PhD, Research group leader, principal investigator.

Ester Bachar-Wikström PhD, senior researcher.

Ritu Bansal PhD, postdoc.

Matthew Hunt PhD, postdoc.

Monica Torres MD, PhD student.

Nuoqi Wang, PhD student.

William Jebril MD, PhD student.

Philip Curman MD, PhD, affiliated.

Research funding

  • Swedish Science Council (Vetenskapsrådet).
  • Swedish Society for Medical Research (Svenska Sällskapet för Medicinsk Forskning).
  • Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation (Marianne och Marcus Wallenbergs Stiftelse).
  • The Swedish Society of Medicine (Svenska Läkarsällskapet).
  • Hudfonden.
  • FIRST Foundation.
  • Jeanssons stiftelse.
  • Magnus Bergvalls stiftelse.
  • Åke Wibergs stiftelse.
  • Psoriasisfonden.

Ongoing collaborations

  • Orian Shirihai, UCLA (US).
  • Carmella Evans-Molina, Indiana University (US).
  • Nordiska kliniken, Stockholm (Sweden).

Selected Publications

Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) activity is required for V(D)J recombination.
Chen CC, Chen BR, Wang Y, Curman P, Beilinson HA, Brecht RM, Liu CC, Farrell RJ, de Juan-Sanz J, Charbonnier LM, Kajimura S, Ryan TA, Schatz DG, Chatila TA, Wikstrom JD, Tyler JK, Sleckman BP
J Exp Med 2021 08;218(8):

Endoplasmic reticulum stress in human chronic wound healing: Rescue by 4-phenylbutyrate.
Bachar-Wikstrom E, Manchanda M, Bansal R, Karlsson M, Kelly-Pettersson P, Sköldenberg O, Wikstrom JD
Int Wound J 2021 Feb;18(1):49-61

Patients with Darier Disease Exhibit Cognitive Impairment while Patients with Hailey-Hailey Disease Do Not: An Experimental, Matched Case-control Study.
Curman P, Bern J, Sand L, Cederlöf M, Bachar-Wikström E, Wikström JD
Acta Derm Venereol 2021 Jun;101(6):adv00476

Darier disease is associated with heart failure: a cross-sectional case-control and population based study.
Bachar-Wikstrom E, Curman P, Ahanian T, Leong IUS, Larsson H, Cederlöf M, Wikstrom JD
Sci Rep 2020 04;10(1):6886

Darier disease is associated with type 1 diabetes: Findings from a population-based cohort study.
Cederlöf M, Curman P, Ahanian T, Leong IUS, Brismar K, Bachar-Wikstrom E, Wikstrom JD
J Am Acad Dermatol 2019 12;81(6):1425-1426

Mitochondria Bound to Lipid Droplets Have Unique Bioenergetics, Composition, and Dynamics that Support Lipid Droplet Expansion.
Benador IY, Veliova M, Mahdaviani K, Petcherski A, Wikstrom JD, Assali EA, Acín-Pérez R, Shum M, Oliveira MF, Cinti S, Sztalryd C, Barshop WD, Wohlschlegel JA, Corkey BE, Liesa M, Shirihai OS
Cell Metab 2018 04;27(4):869-885.e6

 

JW
Content reviewer:
12-10-2023