New target identified for treatment of premature aging disease
Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, co-first author Pradeep Reddy, and colleagues from KAUST in Saudi Arabia have discovered that a stretch of DNA that hops around the human genome plays a role in premature aging disorders. In people with early aging, or progeria, RNA encoded by this mobile DNA builds up inside cells. What’s more, the scientists found that blocking this RNA reverses the disease in mice.