Mitotic misregulation and human aging

Messenger RNA Levels were measured in actively dividing fibroblasts isolate d from young, middle-age, and old-ago humans and humans with progeria, a ra re genetic disorder characterized by accelerated aging. Genes whose express ion is associated with age-related phenotypes and diseases were identified. The data also suggest that an underlying mechanism of the aging process in volves increasing errors in the mitotic machinery of dividing cells in the postreproductive stage of Life. We propose that this dysfunction leads to c hromosomal pathologies that result in misregulation of genes involved in th e aging process.