Premature Aging And DNA Repair
Accelerated aging conditions (such as Progeria or Werner's syndrome) have provided insight into the mechanisms of normal aging in the past. From the LEF News, a technical reprint on insight into DNA repair and aging-like processes of degeneration in Cockayne Syndrome, "an extreme form of accelerated aging that is inevitably fatal early in life. ... In this first in a series of papers on the mechanisms of [transcription-coupled repair (TCR)], Cooper and her colleagues have shed early light not only on how the mysterious process of [TCR] works at the molecular level, but also on the underlying cause of the transcription defects that accumulate after birth in Cockayne Syndrome, which result in cell death leading to CS's characteristic neurological decline and wasting. Further work may provide insight into the processes of aging itself."
Link: http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=2936&Section=AGING