A Study On Progeria Syndrome

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome other wise known as “Progeria”, or “HGPS”, is a very rare, and fatal genetic disorder characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in young children. The rate of aging is accelerated up to seven times that of a normal life span in first 13 years of life. Progeria comes from the Greek word (πρό), “pro” meaning premature and (γῆρας), “gerias” meaning old age. While there are different forms of Progeria, the most sever form of progeria is formally known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, which was named after the doctors in England: in 1886 by Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson who described the syndrome, and by Dr. Hastings Gilford who independently discovered it in 1904 (Jameson).

     Progeria is a rare disorder; therefore, the transmission of the disease from parent to offspring is not a likely occurrence. However, when the disease is transmitted both mother and father must carry a mutant gene. If just one parent is carrying a single mutant gene, they will not show any symptoms of Progeria and will not pass it along to their offspring. When both parents carry the gene, their offspring now has a 25% chance of being born with Progeria..

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome, also known as HGPS, or Progeria, is a very rare genetic disease caused by a mutation in the cell. In 1886, Jonathan Hutchinson first reported case of a 3 ½ year old boy who had the appearance of an old man. In 1897 Hastings Gilford reported a second case with similar features. However, this mystery disease didn’t have a name until 1904, when it was named after the two men. People who have HGPS usually star showing symptoms by the age of 2, and only live to be a teen-mid-20s.

In conclusion, progeria is a deadly genetic disease characterised by premature aging. Caused by a chance occurrence in the egg or sperm, families have no warning until symptoms manifest around the age of two. Though there is treatment for the disease, there is no cure. Donating your time or money to help progeria patients is a worthy cause. Hopefully, in the future a cure will be found and progeria will not affect children around the

Experts do not believe that Progera is hereditary. They say it is due to a rare gene change, which happens purely by chance. A non-twin sibling runs the same risk of having Progera as any other child from another family. In about 1 in every 100 cases of HGPS the syndrome is passed down to the next generation within the same family. The health care professional will possibly suspect Progeria if the signs and

This syndrome is from a mutation of a gene on chromosome 15 and this causes problems in the production of fibrillin-1 which is a protein that is an important part of connective tissue. The name for the gene is FBN1. Basically, it is the “glue” that helps to support the tissues in the human body. A child born to a parent with this syndrome has a 50% of having it. However, in the remaining 25%, neither parent has the disease which gives them a 1 in 10,000 chance of having a child with this disorder. When a child of two unaffected parents is born with it then the genetic mutation occurs in either the egg or sperm cell at the time of conception.

Progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) is an extremely rare genetic disorder where symptoms resembling aspects of aging are displayed at a very early age (Progeria 101). A genetic disease is an illness caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome, especially a condition that is congenital (present from birth). Genetic diseases are rare and may or may not be heritable. There are thousands of extremely rare genetic diseases, one being Progeria. Progeria affects its victims and their families more than physically; it takes a toll on the mental and emotional state of mind.

The type of Progeria Sam had is called Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, “child Progeria” rather than Werner’s syndrome, also know as “adult Progeria”, that does not occur until late teens, resulting in longer lives into the 40’s-50’s (“Progeria 101/FAQ"). Progeria has a vast amount of symptoms that the majority of those suffering deal with as well as symptoms that are seen less often. Throughout early infancy, children with Progeria resemble normal infants’ physical appearance. Around age 1 or 2 they begin to display extreme growth delay causing them to be short, and have low weight. Their faces appear to be small compared to their head size; furthermore, their faces seem shrunken, wrinkled, and slender. Skulls will have visible veins along the forehead, nose-bridge, as well as the other areas across the head. Other symptoms include having a small jaw, delayed or failed tooth development, deformity of teeth with crowding, beaked nose, prominent eyes, brittle nails, dislocated hips, skeletal defects, and loss of hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes (Chandravanshi et al.). More damaging symptoms are atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), cardiovascular issues (strokes heart attacks), arthritis, and osteoporosis (“Progeria 101/FAQ"). The children who have Progeria are very similar in appearance with little effects from various ethnicities (“Progeria 101/FAQ"). Normally the complications of atherosclerosis lead to the deaths of the children around

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) affects approximately 1 in 4-8 million newborns. It is characterized by rapid aging, but no symptoms are seen at birth. Within a year, infected children start showing symptoms such as a receding jaw, pointy nose, partial to total hair loss (alopecia), fat loss, bone disfigurements, a short stature and skin problems (Pollex 2004). The disease progresses with time, and eventually leads to death at an average age of about 13 years. Death is usually caused by some form of cardiovascular disease, usually induced by atherosclerosis (Wuyts et al. 2005). Most cases of HGPS are due to de novo autosomal dominant point mutations in the lamin A/C gene (LMNA). There are some reported cases suggesting autosomal recessive inheritance, but further testing needs to be performed.

Jonathan Hutchinson in 1886, and eleven years later by Dr. Hastings Gilford, using the two names the disease got its first name Hutchinson Gilford syndrome. Both doctors stating the scene of pre-matured kids. Currently humans are the most discussed primary organism to be affected by Progeria. As said in the beginning, Progeria is extremely rare, so rare that approximately only one in four to eight million newborns get it. With those odds said, it approximated that only 200-250 kids worldwide have this condition. Now parents usually don’t pass down progeria to their children, and both boys and girls have equal chances of getting this disease. In the race to help ease/cure the effects of progeria, there was an European clinical trials, created mice to model the effects of progeria, they did this by injecting the genetic mutation G608G, which is the genetic mutation responsible for progeria in humans with progeria. After 3 weeks were over many of the mice had started to show the symptoms of progeria, such as weight loss, growth defects, and cardiovascular and metabolic anomalies. These mice were later on, used to find a “mutation-targeted treatment”. With the new treatment developed, the Europeans were able to increase the mice’s lifespan from 155 days to 190 days, adding a stunning 35 days more to the mice’s lives. One of the major impacts that this disease, was made by a 17 year old boy named Sam Burns, he became increasingly popular

Jonathan Hutchinson, and in 1897 by Dr. Hastings Gilford.” The cure of progeria is yet to be discovered, because of this it is still in the research phase. “Although they are usually born looking healthy, most children with Progeria begin to display many characteristics of Progeria within the first 2 years of life” (Mayo clinic). Currently progeria is prevalent in all parts of the world, scientists and researchers are currently testing a new drug called Lonafarnib. This drug was originally used to treat cancer, but has proven effective for progeria. “Generally speaking, there is no way to pass this disorder along, since the mutation is spontaneous when it comes to the birth of a child.” (Americanpregnancy.org) This means that there is no big concern with progeria, since it can't be passed through genes and

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome is a very rare genetic disorder that causes the affected individuals to appear older than what they are. Individuals are able to be affected by this disorder as earlier as a their first few months of life. There have been reported cases of infection seen in the fetus. Characteristics of progeria include limited growth such as short stature and low body weight, full body hair loss, and facial features that resemble an aged person. This genetic disorder can lead to other health complications such as degeneration of bone mass and tissue, scleroderma, kidney failure, loss of eye sight, atherosclerosis, and severe cardiovascular problems. There is a genetic test to diagnosis the disorder at a younger age called HGPS. Currently, there is no cure or treatment for the disease. However, patients can undergo certain surgeries such as

A genetic mishap's ability to fast forward the process of aging is a scientific anomaly. Since Kindergarten, we have been taught of life's cycle. You are born, you become a toddler, child, teen, adult, have a midlife crisis, get old and wrinkley, and then you die. However, Progeria, with its one-gene-abnormality compresses all eight of those stages into thirteen years. What does this

Progeria is a fatal genetic condition characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging children. There are different types of Progeria but the classic type is Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. Progeria means “prematurely old.” The scientific name for the genetic mutation is Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, but is known as Progeria or HGPS. HGPS is caused by a mutation of the LMNA gene. The LMNA gene produces the Lamin A protein, which holds the nucleus together, Researchers say that Lamin A protein makes the nucleus unstable which leads to aging in Progeria. The symptoms of Progeria in the skin are wrinkles or dryness. Some common symptoms of Progeria are hair loss, delayed tooth development, enlarged head, high-pitched voice, loss of muscle,

In, Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome: Substance from broccoli can moderate defects, the author discusses an interesting new discovery made by scientists. Apparently a substance found in broccoli has been shown to help patients diagnosed with HGPS, or Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome reactivate protein breakdown, which, in reaction, reduces disease related-defects caused by HGPS. Patients with HGPS have a protein known as progerin, which is not functional but is synthesized inside the body. This causes the cells to age prematurely. This, in turn, causes patients to suffer diseases common with the elderly, like atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes. While researching this disease, scientists found that even healthy cells carry progerin,