Ag03141

Human adult dermal primary Werner syndrome AG05229 and AG03141 fibroblasts were obtained from the Coriell Cell Repositories (Camden, NJ, USA). WS tert cells are AG03141 fibroblasts that have been immortalised by the ectopic expression of human enzyme telomerase and have been described previously. 14 Cells were grown in DMEM growth medium as previously described. 15 Cell proliferation rates for the WS tert cells were measured as cumulated population doublings (CPDs) divided by the number of days of the experiment concerned and expressed as a percentage of the proliferation rate of control cells (with the control being 100%). The number of CPDs achieved at each passage of the cells was calculated according to the formula: PDs = log(N t /N o )/log2, where N t is number of cells counted and N o is number of cells seeded. For primary cells the CPDs were plotted versus days in culture. For assessing the effects of the various kinase inhibitors the culture medium was supplemented with the inhibitor dissolved in DMSO, with the medium being replaced daily. For controls an equivalent volume of the inhibitor solvent (DMSO) was added to the medium.