Common drugs may combat aging disease

sea-maid submitted, created time 6 months 18 hours (www.newscientist.com)

Two common drugs have reversed the effects in mice of progeria, a rare genetic disease that causes premature aging. The drugs have few side effects, so might one day be used to treat children with the disease.

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Mutations in the telomerase component NHP2 cause the premature aging syndrome dyskeratosis congenita

sea-maid submitted, created time 6 months 3 weeks (www.pnas.org)

Dyskeratosis congenita is a premature aging syndrome characterized by muco-cutaneous features and a range of other abnormalities, including early greying, dental loss, osteoporosis, and malignancy.

In this study, the author describe the analysis of two other proteins, NHP2 and GAR1, that together with dyskerin and NOP10 are key components of telomerase and small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein (snoRNP) complexes.

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