smoking and collagen-related gene

From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Fri Mar 23 2001 - 21:51:40 MST


http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGARCILINKC.html

Mar 23, 2001 - 01:06 AM

New Research Offers Explanation of Why Smokers Look Older

Emma Ross
The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) - There's a new wrinkle in the old question of why smokers'
faces are prematurely lined.
A report in The Lancet medical journal this week suggests smoking switches
on a gene involved in destroying collagen, the structural protein that
gives skin its elasticity.
The link between smoking and wrinkles has been known for years, but
scientists haven't worked out exactly how cigarettes age the skin.
In the study, scientists from St. John's Institute of Dermatology in London
found that the gene, one implicated in wrinkles from sunbathing, was highly
active in smokers and silent in nonsmokers. [etc]



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