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Nature Medicine 14, 1311 - 1313 (2008)
doi:10.1038/nm1208-1311

Saving the skin from drug-induced detachment

Brian J Nickoloff1

  1. Brian J. Nickoloff is at the Loyola University of Chicago Medical Center, Building 112, Room 301, 2160 South First Avenue, Maywood, Illinois 60153-5385, USA.
    e-mail: bnickol@lumc.edu


Granulysin, a powerful cytolytic protein secreted from immune cells, underlies an extreme and deadly response to common medications, in which the skin blisters and sloughs off. The findings may also have implications for bone marrow transplant recipients suffering from graft-versus-host disease (pages 1343–1350).


Just as someone spending time relaxing at the beach does not expect a tsunami to wipe away the coastline, a patient taking his or her medication does not expect to have large areas of skin fall off1. But that is exactly can happen, in rare instances, to people ingesting a range of common unrelated medications, such as various antibiotics and antiseizure agents.

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