SOFÍA RIVERO 1r Batx (3)

Scientists replaced 80 percent

of a "butterfly" boy's skin

Skin cells.

Summary:

A 7-year-old boy with a genetic condition what causes the lost most of the epidermis. 
Scientists  used a combination of stem cells and gene therapy to replace about 80 percent of his skin.

Link:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/scientists-replaced-80-percent-butterfly-boys-skin

Publication date:

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

Scientific field:

Biomedicine

Glossary:

Bumps: to cause to strike.

Skin gene therapy.

Blistering: causing blisters.
Effort: a try.
Last-ditch: made or done as a last desperate attempt or effort.

Mild friction: gentle or soft in feeling, manner, etc.

Perish: suffer death, typically in a violent, sudden, or untimely way.
Rejected: dismiss as inadequate, inappropiate, or nor to one's taste.
Stem cells: an undifferentiated cell that gives rise to specialized cells, such as blood cells.

Swallowing: cause or allow to pass down the throat.

Analysis comment:

Red shows where skin was missing.
Green indicates blistered areas.

This article explains the last-ditch effort to safe a dying 7-year-old boy that with stem cells and gene therapy scientifics have replaced a 80 percent of his skin.

It explains too that people with this genetic condition are called ''butterfly'' children because they are people who have their skin fragile like butterflies. Even mild friction or bumps can cause severe blistering. 
The blistering can also affect mucus membranes inside the body, making breathing, swallowing and digesting food difficult.

On the one hand, it explains that in 2015, a boy with a rare genetic skin condition, had lost most of his skin and he was close to death because they have mutations in one of three genes. Those genes produce parts of a protein which helps attach the top layer of skin (the epidermis), to deeper layers. 

On the other hand, it explains that doctors thought that the boy would also perish. So they tried giving the skin from his father, but the child's body rejected the transplant. And for help, they turned to stem cells researchers who has initiated techniques correcting the genetic defect.

To conclude, this article is a success for the biomedicine. Because thanks to this discovery, many  ''butterfly'' children have been helped and they have survived.