Imagine touching glass and not leaving a mark -- virtually no trace of
the complex lines and ridges that make up each individual fingerprint.
Most of us take these identifying traits for granted. After all,
everyone has fingerprints, right?
Wrong.
Flight attendant Cheryl Maynard does not have fingerprints, and
that has made getting the security clearances she needs for her job a
challenge.
Maynard has dealt with challenges due to her missing prints for
her entire life. Her father was in the military and had top security
clearance, so the entire family had to be fingerprinted frequently. In
Maynard's case, that process was understandably difficult and raised a
number of questions.
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What is DPR?
Maynard was born with a rare genetic disorder called DPR, or
dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis, and she's not only missing
fingerprints -- she's also missing those unique marks on her toes, in
addition to being unable to sweat.
The condition is passed down through the female side of the family.
People that suffer from DPR can also have extremely thin hair, brittle,
ridged nails and mottled skin. DPR is so rare that the Maynards were
the only family in the world known to carry the genetic defect.
How
is this condition possible? The ridges on our fingers and toes start
forming in utero at about 11 weeks. However, if certain genes mutate,
the body never creates the signals that form the prints -- resulting in
the Maynard family condition, DPR, as well as approximately a hundred
other genetic disorders that fall under the umbrella of ectodermal
dysplasia syndromes, or E-D'S.
Caleb Radley, an 11-year-old boy, exhibits many of the same characteristics as Maynard.
"I have dry skin," he explained. "I don't have sweat glands, I
have a little bit of hair, I don't have a lot of teeth…I don't have a
fingerprint."
But while he and Maynard share many of the same symptoms, the
fact that Radley has a small number of teeth, which are abnormally
formed, distinguishes his condition from Maynard's DPR.
The Dangers of the Disease
This condition may not seem life-threatening, but it can actually be extremely hazardous.
The inability to sweat turns every hot day or active play into a
potential for heatstroke -- a danger Radley has been grappling with for
his entire life. And Maynard is unable to spend more than a couple of
minutes on a treadmill before having to immerse her head in water to
cool off.
Fingerprint specialist Bill Reeves works for the Fairfax County
Police department in Virginia, and has access to approximately 5
million prints. "Primetime" took Maynard to see him, without informing
Reeves about her condition until after he tried to take her prints.
Unable to see decent images of her prints, Reeves brought up another troubling implication of her condition.
"As our society comes to embrace more biometric access for security, that could create some havoc for her," he said.
In a world that is increasingly conscious of security and of
proof of identity, not having fingerprints can present a number of
problems. So what, if anything, can be done?
The Maynards have given tissue samples to researchers at Rambam
Hospital in Israel to try to figure out why these mutations occur, and
that research has led to a recent breakthrough. The researchers have
identified the gene responsible for Maynard's disorder -- which could
help them determine how to treat the condition, and could have
implications for skin cancer research as well.
While treatment is extremely far off, Maynard and her family are heartened by the possibility.
Apoxis, a Swiss company, has created a gene therapy to correct
many issues involved with his disorder, and the company hopes to begin
human trials in two years. If the trials are successful, this therapy
could help improve development of teeth, hair and sweat glands for
people that suffer from this E-D.