Premature aging syndromes

Premature aging syndromes represent human conditions in which multiple tissues and organs show features of accelerated aging. This reference module provides un up to date review of Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) and Werner Syndrome (WS), two of the best-characterized segmental progeroid disorders in humans, which are also named childhood-progeria and adulthood-progeria, respectively. A description is provided of their main symptoms, genetic causes, molecular pathology, and therapeutic approaches, alongside with a list of online disease registers and databases. Furthermore, attention is paid to atypical progeroid syndromes (atypical HGPS or atypical WS), a spectrum of progeroid disease phenotypes ranging from moderate and mild-severe to very aggressive forms and often caused by less frequent mutations in the same genes causing typical premature aging syndromes.