11 Facts About Werner syndrome

Werner syndrome or Werner's syndrome, known as "adult progeria", is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder which is characterized by the appearance of premature aging.

Werner syndrome identified the syndrome in four siblings observed with premature aging, which he explored as the subject of his dissertation of 1904.

Mutation in the WRN gene that causes Werner syndrome is autosomal and recessive, meaning that sufferers must inherit a copy of the gene from each parent.

Werner syndrome patients are at increased risk for several other diseases, many associated with aging.

Mutations which cause Werner syndrome all occur at the regions of the gene which encode for protein, and not at non-coding regions.

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Werner syndrome noticed these symptoms particularly in a family with four sequential children who all showed the characteristics of the syndrome at around the same age.

Werner syndrome assumed the cause to be genetic, though most of his evidence was clinical.

Since the discovery of the gene, it has become clear that the premature aging displayed in Werner syndrome is not the same, on a cellular level, as normal aging.

Werner syndrome is featured in the 1989 film The Fly II, starring Eric Stoltz, in which his character is born as a 2 year old baby.

Werner syndrome never sleeps and grows 5 times his normal age due to his biological father having half fly genes from the first 1986 film The Fly.

Werner syndrome is featured in the 1996 film Jack, starring Robin Williams, in which his character ages four times faster than normal.