http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110224/Progeria-derived-iPS-cells-may-treat-aging-related-disease-in-children.aspx
To start with, the human aging process for 8 decades or more has been difficult for people to study. At the Salk Institute for Biological studies they have replicated premature aging in the lab, where they are able to study aging related disease in a dish.
Juan Carlos, PH.D a professor at the Salk Institute and and his team have reported that they successfully generated induced pluripotent stem( iPS) cells from skin cells, that are obtained from patients that have Hutchinson- Gilford Progeria Syndrome, which is when people age 8 to about 10 times faster than the rest of the human population.
It goes on to say that people that face this disease, features resemble the aging process that are put on fast foward and afflicted people which they live rarely beyond 13 years. Almost all people that suffer from this, die from complications of arteriosclerosis, which is clogging of that hardening of arteries, or the blood vessles caused by plaques which then lead to either heart attacks or stroke.
This is an interesting discovery. Maybe this will help researchers help to understanding the aging process in healthy individuals. Maybe this will lead to therapies that could slow the aging process.
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