chiaraviglio@husc2.UUCP (lucius) (12/18/86)
_ I read this article, thinking it might contain a potential important breakthrough on understanding the cellular basis of aging (because Werner's Syndrome has symptoms which seem to be accelerated aging). However, from inspection of the evidence in the article, it seems that Werner's Syndrome mainly exacerbates the effects of aging by increasing the rate of collagen destruction (although the inhibited mitogenic response might be something more fundamental), so that the effects which are accelerated in Werner's Syndrome seem to be evidence of genes which are affected in an accessory manner by aging (they probably do not have an effect on whatever causes aging itself). However, if the gene (or regulatory region) which is defective in Werner's Syndrome could be found, it might serve as a stepping stone in the search for what causes aging. -- -- Lucius Chiaraviglio lucius@tardis.harvard.edu seismo!tardis!lucius Please do not mail replies to me on husc2 (disk quota problems, and mail out of this system is unreliable). Please send only to the address given above.