Understanding a Devastating Childhood Disease is Now One Step
Closer New research from the National Cancer Institute provides
hope for children with "Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome" —
a rare and fatal disease that causes the body to age at an
extreme rate. Akinso: It's a disease that affects one out of
eight-million infants — and causes them to grow old before their
time: a rare and fatal disease called Hutchinson-Gilford
Progeria Syndrome causes the body to age at an extreme rate.
But, now, there's hope that cells affected by this disease can
be made healthy again — according to a study conducted by
researchers at the National Cancer Institute. One of the
researchers — Doctor Tom Misteli — believes this study could
bring scientists one step closer to understanding this
devastating childhood disease. Mistelli: What's amazing to me is
that you can take a defective cell from a patient, and you can
eliminate this one bad protein, and the cell still has the
potential to function perfectly normally. So, the