Associate Prof. Andor Pivarcsi
Center for Molecular Medicine, Unit of Dermatology, Karolinska Institutet

Host: Veli-Matti Kähäri (velkah@utu.fi)

Andor Pivarcsi is associate professor in experimental dermatology at the Center for Molecular Medicine in Karolinska Institutet. His research group studies the role of non-coding RNAs (microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs) in the most common human malignancy, skin cancer. Melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers have an increasing incidence worldwide and there is a need for developing new therapeutic approaches and biomarkers. His research team investigates the involvement of non-coding RNAs in skin carcinogenesis, by identifying alterations in the activity of miRNA and lncRNA genes in patient samples and by systematic investigation of their function using in vitro and in vivo disease models. The long-term goal is to translate the findings into the clinical practice and modulate miRNA expression in the skin via synthetic miRNAs or miRNA inhibitors in order to treat skin cancer.

Selected publications

Lohcharoenkal W, Das Mahapatra K, Pasquali L, Crudden C, Kular L, Akkaya Ulum YZ, Zhang L, Xu Landén N, Girnita L, Jagodic M, Ståhle M, Sonkoly E, Pivarcsi A. Genome-wide screen for microRNAs reveals a role for miR-203 in melanoma metastasis. J Invest Dermatol. 2017 Nov 2. pii: S0022-202X(17)33137-8.

Li X, Li D, Wang A, Chu T, Lohcharoenkal W, Zheng X, Grünler J, Narayanan S, Eliasson S, Herter EK, Wang Y, Ma Y, Ehrström M, Eidsmo L, Kasper M, Pivarcsi A, Sonkoly E, Catrina SB, Ståhle M, Xu Landén N. MicroRNA-132 with Therapeutic Potential in Chronic Wounds. J Invest Dermatol. 2017 Dec;137(12):2630-2638.

Li X, Li D, Wikstrom JD, Pivarcsi A, Sonkoly E, Ståhle M, Landén NX. MicroRNA-132 promotes fibroblast migration via regulating RAS p21 protein activator 1 in skin wound healing. Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 10;7(1):7797.

Srivastava A, Nikamo P, Lohcharoenkal W, Li D, Meisgen F, Xu Landén N, Ståhle M, Pivarcsi A, Sonkoly E. MicroRNA-146a suppresses IL-17-mediated skin inflammation and is genetically associated with psoriasis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2017 Feb;139(2):550-561.

Lohcharoenkal W,  Harada M,  Lovén J,  Meisgen F,  Landén NX,  Zhang L,  Lapins J,  Mahapatra KD,  Shi H,  Nissinen L,  Kähäri VM,  Ståhle M,  Sonkoly E,  Grandér D,  Arsenian-Henriksson M,  Pivarcsi A. MicroRNA-203 Inversely Correlates with Differentiation Grade, Targets c-MYC, and Functions as a Tumor Suppressor in cSCC. The Journal of investigative dermatology 2016 136;12 2485-2494

Li D, Wang A, Liu X, Meisgen F, Grünler J, Botusan IR, Narayanan S, Erikci E, Li X, Blomqvist L, Du L, Pivarcsi A, Sonkoly E, Chowdhury K, Catrina SB, Ståhle M, Landén NX. MicroRNA-132 enhances transition from inflammation to proliferation during wound healing. J Clin Invest. 2015 Aug 3;125(8):3008-26.