Progeria: a human-disease model of accelerated aging.
Progeria is a rare genetic disease with striking features that resemble accelerated aging. The inheritance pattern, paternal age effect, and lack of consanguinity argue that it is due to a sporadic dominant mutation. We have observed elevated levels of hyaluronic acid (HA) excretion in progeria patients. In several progeria patients we observed normal levels of growth hormone ( GH) but very low levels of insulin-like growth factor I along with very high basal metabolic rates (BMRs). A trial of GH treatment was begun, which resulted in a marked increase in linear growth and a paradoxical drop in BMRs in these two patients. We hypothesize that the failure of patients with progeria to thrive may be due to a bioinactive form of GH and a lack of vasculogenesis caused by excess HA. An understanding of the progeria genetic mutation may define a key gene with a major effect on normal aging.[1]References
- Progeria: a human-disease model of accelerated aging. Brown, W.T. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. (1992) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
