Patients with epidermolysis bullosa, a disease causing generalized peeling of the skin, have been successfully treated with gene therapy applied in the form of a gel.
Imagine that at the slightest friction, the slightest touch or even for no apparent reason, your skin comes to shreds, leaving raw wounds all over your body. This nightmarish scenario is the daily life of people suffering from epidermolysis bullosa, a rare disease (about 100 new cases per year in France) which manifests itself from birth. It finds its origin in a genetic defect which makes the skin excessively fragile. “We talk about butterfly children because their skin is as fragile as the wings of a butterfly.“, indicates Pr Alain Hovnanian, professor of genetics at the Necker hospital (Paris) who has devoted his life to this disease.
Very recently, a team of American researchers discovered a treatment that could considerably improve the lives of these patients. The results of their clinical trial have just been published in the journal Nature Medicine .
Repair the skin with a virus
The principle of treatment is quite simple: since epidermolysis bullosa is due to the absence of a protein…
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