Events

Cezmi Akdis is the director of the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) in Davos and Professor in Zurich University Medical Faculty.He has honorary professorships from Beijign (China), Wuhan (China) and Bursa Uludag Universities (Turkey), Harvard University (USA). He is a Senate Member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.Cezmi Akdis has published 720 peer-reviewed articles. His h-index is 156 and he was selected as a highly cited author consecutively in 2016-2017-2018-2019-2020 and 2021 by Clarivate (Thomson Reuters).Cezmi Akdis acted as the President of the European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (15’000 members) between 2011-2013. He was the editor of Global Atlases of Allergy, Asthma I-II, Chronic Rhinosinusitis and Allergic Rhinitis.He was the founder and organizer of the World Immune Regulation Meetings, Davos I-XVI (600-1000 participants). He has contributed the Allergy Chapters in the textbooks that are studied in Medical Schools, Such as Nelson Text book of Pediatrics, Middleton Essentials of Allergy. He is one of the Editors of the text book Pediatric Allergy Immunology. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Allergy journal, number one journal of the Allergy Clinical Immunology specialty, impact factor 14.71.Cezmi Akdis’s major scientific contributions are on immune regulation and allergen tolerance, plasticity of antigen-specific T cells 1995, human T regulatory cells 1996, immune suppressive role of histamine receptor 2 2000, human Type 2 NK cell subset 2001, human regulatory NK cells 2007, regulatory innate B cell subset 2017, regulatory innate lymphoid cells 2019. His current research is the continuation of his epithelial barrier theory studies starting from mechanisms of eczema 2000, mechanisms of epithelial shedding in asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis 2003, endotypes of asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis and atopic dermatitis 2011, epithelial barrier theory for the development of allergic and autoimmune diseases 2006 – 2022. Cezmi Akdis is also the author of more than 40 publications on COVID including one of the first ones published on 19 February 2020, including pathophysiology, risk factors, severity, clinical characteristics and how to handle allergy and asthma patients during the pandemic.
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Epithelial Barrier Theory
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- Several shortcomings of the hygiene, old friends and biodiversity hypotheses have been discussed during the last decades, however these hypotheses do not fully explain the rise in allergic disease.

- The Epithelial Barrier Theory and studies of Akdis demonstrate a long list of environmental substances that impair epithelial barriers and proposes a strong explanation for the pandemic increase in allergic, autoimmune and neuropsychiatric diseases. The prevalence of these diseases increased by 100 times.
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- Molecular mechanisms of epithelial barrier damage of environmental substances, such as the involvement of oxydative stress, innate immune response, cell death mechanisms, protein folding defects have been demonstrated.
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- Link of epithelial barrier defects to microbial dysbiosis and immune system dysregulation have been demonstrated.Several circulating biomarkers that identify leaky epithelial barriers have been demonstrated.
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- An innovative skin barrier detection method by electric impedance spectroscopy has been patented, developed and a device (Navisense; SciBase) is currently available.
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- A strong media outreach and public awareness work has been performed. Possible strategies have been proposed for the avoidance and dose control environmental substances; development of safer, less-toxic products; development of novel therapeutic approaches for tightening the tissue-specific barrier molecules; strengthening other components of the mucosal barrier; blocking bacterial translocation; avoiding the colonization of opportunistic pathogens; interventions through diet and microbiome, and many more novel approaches.

- Discussions with the NIH, FDA, Swiss EMPA and EU EFSA are ongoing. EAACI Environment Guidelines and Epithelial Biology Group has been established co-chaired by C. Akdis.

Humans are exposed to a variety of toxins and chemicals every day. According to the epithelial barrier theory, exposure to many of these substances damages the epithelium, the thin layer of cells that covers the surface of our skin, lungs and intestine. Defective epithelial barriers have been linked to a rise in almost two billion allergic, autoimmune, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases.The scientific community sees this as one of the three major threats to humanity, such as global warming and climate change, virus infection pandemic, such as COVID and Ebola.Local epithelial damage to the skin and mucosal barriers lead to allergic conditions, inflammatory bowel disorders and celiac disease. There is a need to continue research into the epithelial barrier to Experimental models should be developed and validated to monitor the trafficking of environmental antigens to inform approaches for the prevention, early intervention and development of novel therapies. You can expect two exciting days with renowned scientists and interesting discussions.

Topics 2024
- Epithelial barrier and immune response
- Molecular control of epithelial barrier integrity
- Environmental factors that induce epithelial barrier disruption
- Microbiome and epithelial barriers
- Air pollution and allergic diseases
- Novel techniques and model mice to investigate epithelial barriers
- Viral infections and metabolic changes in the Epithelial cells
- Mitigation of epithelial barrier dysfunction for the prevention of diseases

‍Speakers and Their Talk Titles

- Ioana Agache – Skin epithelial barrier as a biomarker for the asthmatic lung
- Cezmi A. Akdis – Restoring the epithelial barrier – key pathways
- Nora Barrett – The mechanism of airway epithelial remodeling
- Jonathan M. Coquet- Mice with a wild microbiota and strong allergic immune responses
- Alfred Doyle – Role of Epithelial Barrier Dysfunction in the Pathogenesis of Eosinophilic Esophagitis
- Hamida Hammad – Mechanisms of the farm dust protective effect
- Marek Jutel – Effect of biolgicals and current treatments on epithelial cells
- Claudia Mauri – Exploring Intestinal Permeability: A novel approach to preventing and treating autoimmune diseases
- Hideaki Morita – Establishment of a novel IL-25-ILC2 dependent mouse model for eosinophilic gastroenteritis
- Jan Hendrik Niess – Regulatory role of IL-20 subfamily cytokines in oesophageal epithelial barrier function
- Liam O’Mahony – The interplay between the lung and gut – the important role of the microbiome
- Ali Önder Yildirim – Regulation of Epithelial Cell Injury in the lung
- Ruby Pawankar – The One Health concept
- Oscar Palomares – Cannabinoid show anti-inflammatory properties and strengthen epithelial defences
- Marek Sanak – Lipid phenotyping of lung epithelial lining fluid
- Mohamed Shamji – Innate immune cells and their contribution to diseases
- Milena Sokolowska – Viral infections and metabolic regulation of lung epithelial barrier
- Martin Steinhoff – Neuroimmune communication regulating pruritus in atopic dermatitis
- Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann – Regulation of the epithelial barrier and microbiome by environmental factors
- Andreas Wack – Repair of airway epithelia requires metabolic rewiring towards fatty acid oxidation