Lamin A As a Biomarker of Aging in Skin
More on the nuts and bolts of lamin A, the root of accelerated aging in progeria (HGPS), from PLoS One: "90% of HGPS cases carry the [lamin A mutation], activating a splice donor site that results in production of a dominant negative form of lamin A protein, denoted progerin. Screening 150 skin biopsies from unaffected individuals (newborn to 97 years) showed that a similar splicing event occurs in vivo at a low level in the skin at all ages. While progerin mRNA remains low, the protein accumulates in the skin with age in a subset of dermal fibroblasts and in a few terminally differentiated keratinocytes. Progerin-positive fibroblasts localize near the basement membrane and in the papillary dermis of young adult skin; however, their numbers increase and their distribution reaches the deep reticular dermis in elderly skin. Our findings demonstrate that progerin expression is a biomarker of normal cellular aging and may potentially be linked to terminal differentiation and senescence in elderly individuals." This enlarges upon earlier work demonstrating the presence of lamin A defects in normal individuals.