(Image source: ScienceNOW)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

ANCHOR AUSTIN KIM

Two back-to-back studies are raising hope for children with a tragic aging disease -- and for everyone else who’s worried about aging in general.

Progeria is a rare disease caused by a genetic mutation. It causes children to age up to 10 times faster than normal. Most never live past the age of 13 and die of heart attacks or strokes. Now, CBS reports, a new study links progeria to the normal aging process.

“But new research by Dr. Francis Collins on why these children age so rapidly is revealing the genetic roots of why aging happens at all. Children like Zack are born with an excess of the cell-destroying protein called progerin. Dr. Collins learned we all have small amounts of progerin -- and progerin has an on switch.”

As people age and their DNA gets roughed up, more and more of this protein is made, and jams up our cells, interfering with cellular processes. Collins suggests, if treatments for progeria reduce or limit this protein, they might be used to extend lifespan in healthy people. Just a few weeks after Collins published the paper, researchers might have found just such a treatment. The Advertiser explains.

“Rapamycin, which already is used to suppress the immune system in organ transplants, was created from a bacterium found in the soil on Easter Island. … Treating [progeria patients’ cells] with the drug flushed the poisonous protein out of the cells and reversed the defects, effectively making them healthy again. What is more, the cells lived longer...”

Rapamycin is already considered safe for humans, but it’s still untested in large doses. While many scientists want further testing in animals, the medical director of the Progeria Research Foundation tells Science Now -- Progeria patients don’t have time.

“... she and the others running the current progeria clinical trial are ‘seriously considering’ whether to start giving an oral derivative of rapamycin to the children. … ‘I'm not sure we would need to wait 2 to 3 years for an efficacy study in mice,’ she says.”

The newest test was just a few cells, not a person living with progeria -- but some are already calling Rapamycin -- an elixir of youth.