Review of How Genetic Research on Segmental Progeroid Syndromes Has Documented Genomic Instability as a Hallmark of Aging But Let Us Now Pursue Antigeroid Syndromes!

Abstract

The purpose of this early contribution to the new Fellows Forum of this pioneering journal for what is now called Geroscience is to provide an example of how the author's interest in using the emerging tools of human genetics has led to strong support for one of the hallmarks of aging-Genomic Instability. We shall also briefly review our emerging interests in the genetic analysis of what we have called Antigeroid Syndromes. While there has been significant progress in that direction via genetic studies of centenarians, the search for genetic pathways that make individuals unusually resistant or resilient to the ravages of specific geriatric disorders has been comparatively neglected. We refer to these disorders as Unimodal Antigeroid Syndromes. It is our hope that our young colleagues will consider research efforts in that direction.

Keywords: Human aging; Human genetics; Longevity; Progeroid syndromes.

Figure 1.

Examples of progeroid patients and selected causal genes for segmental progeroid syndromes. (Top) Representative profiles of segmental progeroid patients were shown along with the mutated genes and their major cellular function in parenthesis above the pictures. See Table 1 for brief clinical descriptions and references. (Bottom) Examples of major causal genes of segmental progeroid syndromes associated with DNA damage repair and responses. Mutated loci so far identified among cases of atypical Werner syndrome within the International Registry of Werner Syndrome are underlined.