Memphis, TN: 28 Year Old Battles Mystery Illness

[Emily]

28 Year Old Battles Mystery Illness

Posted on: 12:04 pm, July 4, 2012, by Candace McCowan
(Memphis)

Shanyna Isom never thought at 28 years old she would be walking with a walker, wearing a wig and have scabs all over her body. Just 2 years ago she was a vibrant University of Memphis student, until she had an asthma attack.

She was treated with steroids that she had an allergic reaction to. And ever since her entire body has changed....

This might have started with an occupational exposure. Her Facebook page says she was a full-time student and a full-time beautician when she got ill.

 

[Emily]

Re: Memphis, TN: 28 Year Old Battles Mystery Illness

http://www.wafb.com/story/19221580/mid-south-woman-struggles-with-unknown-disease

Mystery illness causes woman to grow fingernails in place of hair
Posted: Aug 07, 2012 7:49 PM PDT Updated: Aug 08, 2012 11:29 AM PDT
By Anna Marie Hartman
[snip]
Doctors determined she produces 12 times the number of skin cells per hair follicle, which suffocates her skin.

Instead of hair, her skin follicles produce human nails.

"Where hair grows, nails are growing," she said...

Still a big mystery as to why this happened to her but it sounds like alteration of gene expression:

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/9834092339/student_view0/chapter46/mechanism_of_steroid_hormone_action.html

Mechanism of Steroid Hormone Action
How do hormones work? Hormones influence the growth and develop of organisms. For example hormones determine whether individuals become male or female. Many hormones are steroids. Steroids are a class of lipids. All steroids share a carbon skeleton composed of four fused rings. Hormones are compounds used for long distance signaling in both plants and animals. In animals, specialized cells produce hormones and release them into the circulatory system. Hormones travel to target cells in other parts of the body and cause a variety of changes in the target areas. Changes caused by hormones include changes in gene expression in target cells as well as Steroid hormones are soluble in lipids and can easily pass through cellular and nuclear membranes. In contrast, many other hormones are water soluble. Steroid hormones typically act by affecting gene expression while water-soluble hormones usually act by causing changes in biological processes in the cytoplasm of cells.