Research by Prof. Chan Wai-yee’s group identifies bone developmental defects in Werner Syndrome
Werner Syndrome (WS) patients usually lack the growth spurt, causing short stature. The recent research findings by Prof. Chan Wai-yee’s group identified a previously unknown function of WRN, the defective gene in WS, in regulating bone development and growth through the transcriptional regulation of SHOX (short-stature homeobox) by the WRN helicase domain via unwinding G-quadruplexes. Thus, loss of WRN inhibited bone development which was confirmed in vivo in Zebrafish exhibiting impairment of bone growth and shorter body length when lacking WRN.
The research findings have been published on Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33012-6
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