Novelties in atopic dermatitis research

Abstract

The most relevant international meeting on atopic dermatitis, The George Rajka International Symposium on Atopic Dermatitis, took place in May 2008 in Kyoto (Japan). In 1979 in Oslo, Prof. Georg Rajka initiated a series of international meetings on atopic dermatitis (AD) called ISAD (International Symposium on Atopic Dermatitis) to take place approximately every third year. This meeting brings together clinicians and scientists interested in atopic dermatitis in an interdisciplinary atmosphere, and provides state-of-the-art on clinical and experimental research on this disease. Atopic dermatitis is a chronic cutaneous disease that very often is associated with other atopic disorders like asthma and allergic rhinitis. The meeting reflected on the latest novelties in the field related to abnormal skin barrier function, decreased innate immune response, influence of allergic inflammation on skin barrier/innate response, microbial infections as well future therapies for AD.