Transplanted fibroblasts take the pressure

Differences between skin in different parts of the body are well recognized, but exploiting those differences to benefit the millions of people worldwide with prosthetic limbs is a new prospect. The skin of the palms and soles, known as volar skin, is specialized to withstand physical and mechanical forces, such as friction, shear stress, and pressure. Limb prostheses come into close contact with stump skin that is not adapted to these forces. As a result, the skin can break down, resulting in pain, ulceration, and infection (1). On page 1059 of this issue, Lee et al. (2) describe the distinctive properties of fibroblasts from volar skin and demonstrate, in a clinical trial of healthy volunteers, that injecting autologous volar fibroblasts (derived from the volunteers’ own tissue) confers volar features on nonvolar skin that persist for several months. This is a promising step toward improved quality of life for prosthesis wearers.