This year’s Avrion Mitchison Prize of the Schering Stiftung for the best research work in the field of chronic inflammation is awarded to Rafael Deite Lantas. He will present his research on the occasion of the award ceremony on December 5, 2017.

A sustained increase of soluble inflammatory molecules in the bloodstream is the main reason for the development of chronic autoimmune diseases, such as psoriasis or arthritis. Enzyme activity enhances the shedding of molecules into the bloodstream. In his work, Rafael Dante Leitas has shown that the protein Fhl2 blocks the involved enzyme Adam17 and thus inhibits the shedding of TNFalpha into the blood. The protein Fhl2 is thus a potential target molecule for the treatment of chronic autoimmune diseases, such as psoriasis.