Possible Associations between Successful Aging and Polymorphic Markers in the Werner Gene Region

摘要

Werner syndrome (WS) is an autosomal recessive segmen-tal progeroid syndrome caused by mutations in the Werner (WRN) gene leading to the early onset of many (but not all) aspects of normal aging. To investigate whether the WRN gene affects the course of aging in non-Werner syndrome individuals, we performed association studies analyzing several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the WRN locus. We found certain close-set SNPs in the 5′ flanking region and 5′ UTR to be significantly associated with the cognitive functioning level in old age.