Progeria mice show improvement with FTI treatment

An experimental cancer drug, farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI), was given by researchers at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to mice with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria, a disorder which causes premature aging in young children. The researchers gave an FTI to mice with progeria and normal mice, and compared both groups to mice with progeria who did not receive the treatment. The majority of the FTI-treated progeria mice showed improvements in body weight, bone integrity, grip strength, and survival compared with untreated control mice. The researchers noted that although the FTI treatment improved the disease in the mice, it did not completely cure the disease. The research was published in the February 16, 2006, online issue of Science and was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Progeria Research Foundation.