NEW SKIN: A boy was dying of a genetic skin disease until researchers transplanted skin grafts that had been genetically modified to correct the mutation.© RUHR-UNIVERSITY BOCHUM
Thanks to an international team of scientists and doctors, a young Syrian refugee who lost most of his outer skin to a life-threatening genetic disease now has a transgenic replacement, derived from his own cells, covering approximately 80 percent of his body. And, as the team documented November 8 in Nature, he’s doing well.
“The work provides in-depth, novel information on skin stem cells and demonstrates the great potential of these cells for treating a devastating disorder,” says Alessandro Aiuti, a professor of pediatrics at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Italy who was not involved in the study.
“[It] establishes a landmark in the field of stem cell therapy,” Elaine Fuchs, a skin scientist at the Rockefeller University who also did not participate in ...
