New Role for DNA Methylation in Subset of Premature Aging Disorder Patients: Scientists

New evidence for the role of epigenetic changes (those heritable alterations in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence) on premature aging diseases was found by scientists at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain.

A new study published in the journal Epigenetics on Jan. 1, 2013, identified a role for DNA methylation changes in a subset of Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria and Werner Syndrome patients, for which no genetic cause (such as DNA mutation) had been associated with onset disease. The study, titled "Aberrant DNA methylation profiles in the premature aging disorders Hutinson-Gilford Progeria and Werner syndrome," is available at http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/epigenetics/article/23366/.

Source: Eurekalert