It seems like we have heard it before—smoking causes premature aging. A University of Iowa study is the first to make a connection between a rare hereditary premature aging disease, called Werner’s syndrome, and cell damage that comes from smoking. Gary Hunninghake, MD, pulmonary specialist and senior author of the study at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics talk about the study:

What do people with Werner’s syndrome experience?

People with Werner's syndrome appear to be normal in terms of aging until they're about 14 or 15. From that point on, they develop a very accelerated process of aging and often pass away in their 40s. Associated with that is the development of aging-related diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Werner's syndrome is a rare illness. How many people are affected by the disease?

Oh, probably not more than a few handfuls.

What did the study look at in Werner's syndrome that may also cause premature aging in smokers?

We were interested in why cigarette smoking might cause an accelerated aging and Toru Nyunoya, MD, who is the first author of the study, and I thought maybe we can learn something about smoking by thinking about this rare disease—Werner's syndrome. In Werner's syndrome, because there's a genetic change, they have a complete loss of one of their body's proteins—called Werner's protein—and that protein is very important in protecting you from accelerated aging.

We decided to look at cigarette smokers and see if there were any changes in that protein. What we found was that, both in the test tube and in tissues of individuals who smoke, we found a marked depression of the amounts of that protein. Cigarette smoking appears to markedly decrease the amount of that protein. It doesn't decrease it to zero, like in Werner's syndrome, but it really knocks it down. We think that that may be at least one of the reasons why cigarette smoking accelerates aging.

Long term, what might the identification of this protein in Werner's syndrome do to treat smoking illnesses, like emphysema?

We looked at ways to protect that protein from being decreased by cigarette smoke, and one of the things that we found was that a compound called N-acetyl-cysteine or NAC, which actually you can buy at a health food store, kept cigarette smoke from decreasing amounts of that protein.

I think, as we study this a little more and we find other compounds that will do that, maybe we can use them to help prevent the development of emphysema. Of course the most important thing is not to smoke.

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Gary Hunninghake, MD

Toru Nyunoya, MD

Smoking Linked to Aging