A 5-year-old female, known case of pachyonychia congenita, presented with diffuse hair loss; remaining hairs were easily plucked kinky hairs. Hair samples from patient were investigated using a light microscope. The hairs of the patients were mainly anagen hairs and unlike normal plucked anagen hairs, showed keratinization and cornification of their hair bulbs. No specific hair shaft abnormalit...

Pachyonychia congenita (PC) is a rare genodermatosis affecting the nails and other ectodermal tissues. It is mainly characterized by gross thickening of all finger and toe nails. Different additional clinical features are observed; they fit into two major types: the Jadassohn-Lewandowsky and the Jackson-Lawler syndrome. The condition is usually transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait, though...

The 2009 Annual Meeting of the International Pachyonychia Congenita Consortium (IPCC)* centered on the need to develop patient-friendly technologies to effectively and efficiently deliver nucleic acids to skin. The IPCC is a group of physicians and scientists who have agreed to work together to develop therapeutics for the rare skin disorder pachyonychia congenita (PC) (a list of IPCC members c...

In this issue, Wilson et al. report the first case of homozygous dominant negative mutations in KRT17 in pachyonychia congenita (PC). Homozygous dominant negative mutations are a rare occurrence in keratin disorders and this is a first report in PC. These mutations cause a distinct sub-phenotype of PC that is more severe in the offspring of affected parents and has associated alopecia.

Josef Jadassohn (1863-1936) and his assistant, Felix Lewandowsky (1879-1921), were eminent German dermatologists who had several dermatology conditions linked eponymously. One such condition is Jadassohn-Lewandowsky syndrome, which is a type of pachyonychia congenita - a disease that is characterized by severe thickening of the nail due to massive nail hyperkeratosis. This report describes Jada...

The ability to attract sufficient resources to effectively develop therapeutics for rare diseases is a daunting task. This review summarizes existing resources for rare diseases and discusses some of the challenges and strategies associated with developing therapies for small patient populations with an emphasis on pachyonychia congenita.