Progeria Continues to Illuminate
Research into the rare accelerated aging condition progeria continues to provide insight into the degenerative processes and failure modes associated with normal aging: "In children with progeria, a mutant protein accumulates in blood vessel cells, hampering their ability to grow and multiply or killing them outright. In mice that produce this same toxic protein, the effect is similar: These vascular cells become damaged or die. These are the findings of two research reports published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Both shed important new light on the progression of progeria, a rare and fatal genetic condition that causes accelerated aging in children. But they may also illuminate the cause of atherosclerosis in adults. Also known as hardening of the arteries, atherosclerosis is a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes."
Link: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2005-06/05-079.html