Skin disorder breakthrough on cards

AN NUI Galway (NUIG) scientist is developing a “smart” dressing which can apply gene therapy to heal rare skin condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB).

Dr Wenxin Wang, NUIG lecturer in functional biomaterials, said the dressing will function “not only as a barrier” but also as a “local release device” for delivering a critical gene which is absent in people suffering from the condition.

People with EB have extremely delicate skin, and young people with the illness have been described as “butterfly children” or “cotton wool babies”. The highly painful condition was documented in the Channel 4 television programme, The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off.

EB is caused by a mutation in the keratin gene, which means people born with the condition lack an “anchor” between the outer skin layer or epidermis and the inner layer or dermis.

Any friction can cause recurrent blistering and sores, which have been compared to third- degree burns in their intensity.

The condition is rare, but affects both men and women and all racial groups. Occurrence is estimated at about 50 in every one million births, and takes several different forms.

Research into a cure at the University of Minnesota in north America has reported a successful bone marrow transplant to two young brothers both diagnosed with EB.

Dr Wang completed his doctoral research in 1999 at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and has worked in Belgium and the University of Nottingham. He is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) and the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB).

His research is being funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board and the Dystrophic Epidermal Bullosa Research Association (Debra).

“My research in conjunction with Debra is to develop an advanced dressing system for the treatment of the recessive dystrophic form of EB, which function not only as a closure device and mechanical barrier but also as a local release device for delivery of a critical gene (type VII collagen gene) that is absent in people suffering from it,” said Dr Wang.