Four more "longevity genes"
The search for genetic determinants of extreme longevity is an extremely difficult task, since in developed countries the frequency of centenarians experiencing the 100-year milestone is 1 per 5,000 people.
Recently, Boston University specialists working under the guidance of Professor Paola Sebastiani managed to identify new rare variants in the 4th and 7th chromosomes associated not only with exceptional longevity, but also with a reduced risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer's disease.
This was achieved by combining cohorts of four major studies: the New England Centenarian Study, the Long Life Family Study, the Southern Italian Centenarian Study, and the Longevity Genes Project. As a result, the total cohort of study participants included 2,070 people born in 1900.
As a result of a multilateral statistical analysis of the collected data, the researchers confirmed previously known single nucleotide polymorphisms or "snips" associated with longevity, and identified from them variants associated with reaching a very old age, differing from variants whose frequency in the genomes of centenarians increases as a result of mortality-related selection. They also identified new rare genetic variants on the 4th and 7th chromosomes that contribute to exceptional longevity.
In addition, when analyzing two databases containing information on the age of manifestation of age-related diseases, the authors demonstrated that certain genetic alleles are associated not only with longevity, but also with a reduced risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and hypertension.
At the same time, they note that, despite the significantly larger amount of processed information, compared with earlier genome-wide associative studies, it is very disappointing that even the most significant of the identified genotypes are detected in the genomes of a very small proportion of the people included in the analysis. This means that most of the genetic variability responsible for exceptional longevity still has no explanation.
Article by Paola Sebastiani et al. Four Genome-Wide Association Studies Identify New Extreme Longevity Variants published in Journals of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on materials from Boston University: New Genetic Variants Associated with Extreme Old Age.
29.05.2017