Vascular cell types in progeria: victims or villains?

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is an ultrarare genetic disease caused by progerin, a broadly expressed mutant variant of lamin A protein that accelerates aging and leads to premature death typically in adolescence. Progerin affects many organs and reproduces many characteristics of physiological aging, with the main cause of death in HGPS being atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). Due to the rarity of HGPS, advances in understanding the disease and progress toward new therapeutic approaches are crucially dependent on preclinical models. We discuss recent research developments from a variety of HGPS experimental systems, with a special focus on in vivo studies of the role of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and endothelial cells (ECs) that are key players in atherosclerosis.