6 replies to this topic

[maestro949]

This is amazing. The genetic cause of Progeria was only found 5 years ago. A test was developed within 1 year and possible treatment (FTIs used for cancer) are already being tested after showing some promise in mice.

Webpage

Read more in the PDF from progeriaresearch.org

[Cyberbrain]

At first I was skeptical that aging could be cured like a disease … but this article has proven otherwise …



Here’s more on the Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progeria

http://english.pravd...3685-progeria-0

Edited by kostas, 23 June 2007 - 01:53 PM.

[Live Forever]

Wow, interesting.

[olaf.larsson]

Does the treatment acctually result any improvement of the condition?

[pyre]

I think this will be the first try on humans, there are only ~50 people with progeria worldwide.

One question that I have about progeria, though:
This 'progerin' protein supposedly responsible for the disease: does it have a role in normal aging?

[icyT]

I've always wondered that too, maybe they just share most of the same overt symptoms. After all, being caused by a protein doesn't sound like aging.

It's sort of like how you can lose memory, or you can lose it through Alzheimers, both result in the same thing but can be caused by different factors, with different treatments.

That said, these are tragic cases, and any progress in medicine or science is good.

Edited by Tyciol, 06 February 2008 - 03:19 AM.

[maestro949]

One question that I have about progeria, though:
This 'progerin' protein supposedly responsible for the disease: does it have a role in normal aging?

Not really. Progerin is the name given to the mutated lamin A protein. This particular mutation leads to a fairly serious disruption in the shape of the nuclear envelope, not something typically seen in aging. The downstream consequences of this damage may have some overlap with other aging related damage though. It doesn't sound like this is well understood at this point though...

LMNA Gene