The rare disease known as Progeria (approximately one case in four million) is a truly sad one that affects children and causes them to age prematurely and at an extremely accelerated rate. Many do not last into their teens. They take on the appearance of older people, with white hair and wrinkles and thinner bones.
There was a study I read about that showed the possibility of certain cancer drugs helping to reverse the cellular damage in the body caused by Progeria. The medicine in question is a family of drugs called FTIs (farnesyltransferase inhibitors). In addition to the team at UCLA that held the study, several other teams of people have noted similar results including researchers at HGSI and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In addition to the FTIs, other newer therapies have showed promise in treating Progeria including RNA interference as well as a drug meant to be used by sufferers of osteoporosis.
Source: The Reuters / CNN
