Progeria is caused by a mutation in the LMNA gene, which leads to abnormalities in the nucleotide structure of affected children’s DNA, resulting in premature aging. The mutation is not inherited, and there is no known cure. Most children with Progeria die of heart disease and stroke around age 13.
The causes of Progeria are abnormalities in the nucleotide structure of the DNA of affected children. These abnormalities are the result of a mutation in the LMNA gene, which is responsible for making the proteins that surround the cell’s nucleus. The ultimate structural instability of the core is thought to cause the signs of aging experienced by those diagnosed with this syndrome.
Progeria is a genetic disorder that causes premature aging in young children. Babies are born with this disease who look healthy and begin to slow down their normal growth rates between 18 and 24 months of age. Their bodies gradually experience hair loss and body fat. The skin begins to take on an aged appearance as the syndrome progresses and their joints become stiffer, sometimes resulting in a dislocated hip. Most children born with this genetic abnormality die of heart disease and stroke around the age of 13, although some cases have survived into their 20s.
A mutation in the LMNA gene is thought to be one of the primary causes of Progeria. The LMNA gene produces the protein Lamin A. This protein is one of the structural spines that surrounds and provides support to the cell nucleus. Doctors and scientists believe that the resulting core instability leads to the signs of premature aging.
The genetic mutation initially manifests itself in a small change in the nucleotides of the patient’s DNA. Nucleotides are the building blocks of the chain structure that is DNA and are composed of adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine. The change in the nucleotide sequence, which is one of the causes of Progeria, is a thymine substitution for cytosine at position 1824.
Although the Progeria genetic trait is dominant, it is not inherited. Children who develop this mutation are not born to parents who have the anomaly. Researchers believe that the mutated code that alters the nucleotide sequence could occur in the egg or in an individual sperm immediately before conception.
Research into the causes of Progeria is ongoing. The genetic abnormality believed to cause the rapid aging process was identified in 2003 as a common link shared by most sufferers. Scientists aren’t entirely sure how the protein Lamin A relates to overall human aging. There is no cure that adequately slows and reverses the side effects of aging in diagnosed children.
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