Reverse Aging - Lamin
A Protein May Hold Key To Fountain of Youth - Anti-Aging Treatment May
Stem From Lamin-A Research into HGPS
June 3rd 2006
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Lamin A Structure |
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Since Ponce de Leon, we have been looking for the fountain of youth, but
now researchers may have found it in the protein lamin. When people
grow old, the walls of the nuclei lose their their perkiness and round
shape. The cells become wrinkled and weak.
The weakened cell membrane allows damaging agents to get inside the
nucleus to the cell’s DNA. Studies have shown that these agents can
cause mutations which lead to physical aging. NCI researchers Paola
Scaffidi, PhD, and Tom Misteli, PhD, while studying the cause of
Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, were able to “reverse” the
abnormalities seen in cells by correcting the defects associated with
the protein lamin-A.
The study, which appears in the March 6 2005 Nature Medicine, examined
the disease called Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS). HGPS is
an extremely rare genetic disease that accelerates the aging process to
about seven times the normal rate.
About a year ago, National Institute of Health (NIH) led researchers
discovered that the genetic basis for HGPS is a single mutation in the
gene encoding lamin A. Lamin A acts like scaffolding which holds a
cell’s nucleus together.
According to an article in the May 19th Issue of The Week,
when they block the protein in the cells of elderly people in the lab,
the cells plumped back up to their youthful state. Misteli said "You
can take these old cells and make them young again."
Dan Wilson
Best Syndication Books on Cosmetic Surgery
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