Gene therapy gives dying boy new skin, life

Child Suffered From Incurable Disease That Made Skin Fragile, With Constant Blisters & Sores

Dr Michele De Luca of the University of Modena in Italy De Luca and his colleagues were contacted. They had used gene therapy to produce a small piece of skin in a similar case. the doctors took a small piece of the boy’s skin from an area that was OK. In the lab, they added a normal version of his bad gene to his skin cells. They grew sheets of the boy’s skin, in much the same way skin grafts are grown for burn victims. In total, they grew close to a square metre of skin, which was then transplanted onto the boy in three operations, ultimately covering 80% of his body. Ten days later, the new skin was already beginning to grow, De Luca said. After eight months, the doctors said that nearly all of the boy’s skin had been generated by the modified stem cells. So far, no problems have been detected. De Luca said the boy will be monitored closely for skin cancer and other potential issues. “This takes us a huge step forward,” said Dr Peter Marinkovich of Stanford University, who has done related work. He said it was impressive that De Luca’s team were able to make such large amounts of viable skin after correcting the genetic defect. But he noted the approach might not help in more serious cases, which often have tricky complications, like skin blistering in the lungs. AP

will this new skin help burns patient ?