Increased collagen synthesis accompanying elevated m-RNA levels in cultured Werner's syndrome fibroblasts.

Although Werner's syndrome (WS) is a premature aging disease and its fibroblasts typically grow poorly in culture, WS may cause abnormalities in connective tissue metabolism that are seldom seen in normal aging, such as scleroderma-like skin. In a preliminary report, we described increased collagen synthesis in fibroblasts derived from two WS patients. The present study was undertaken to determine the degree of the regulation of collagen gene expression in dermal fibroblasts from two other patients. Overproduction of collagenase sensitive protein was observed in WS fibroblasts. Collagen m-RNA levels, that were determined by hybridization of RNA blots with specific cDNA were about 2 times greater than those in the control cells. These results suggest that control of collagen synthesis in WS fibroblasts is altered at the transcriptional level.