Gene Variants
May Be Linked
With Longevity:
Study
There may
be a link
between gene
variants and
longevity, a new
study suggests.
U.S. researchers
said they have
grouped together
a series of
genetic variants
that can predict
with 77 percent
accuracy whether
or not a person
will live to 100
years of age.
The researchers
conducted a
genome-wide
association
study in 1, 055
centenarians and
1,267 controls
participating in
the New England
Centenarian
Study. From
this, a genetic
model that
included 150
single
nucleotide
polymorphisms,
or genetic
variants, was
able to predict
with 77 percent
accuracy how
long a person
was going to
live.
"That's very
high accuracy
for a genetic
model, which
means that the
traits that
we're looking at
have a very
strong genetic
basis," said
study lead
author Paola
Sebastiani, a
professor of
biostatistics at
Boston
University
School of Public
Health.
The other 23
percent could be
accounted for by
environmental
and lifestyle
factors or
genetic factors
that simply are
unknown at this
point, Perls
said.
The researchers
also found 19
different
genetic
"signatures" in
90 percent of
centenarians
which correlated
with "different
patterns of
exceptional
longevity," said
senior study
author Dr.
Thomas Perls, an
associate
professor of
medicine at
Boston
University
School of
Medicine and
Boston Medical
Center.
For example,
some signatures
correlated with
the longest
survival, and
others with the
most delayed
onset of
age-related
illnesses, such
as dementia or
cardiovascular
disease.
Surprisingly,
"what seems to
make people live
very long lives
is not a lack of
genetic
predisposition
to diseases but
an enrichment of
longevity-associated
variants that
may counter the
effects of
disease-associated
variants," said
Sebastiani.
However, having
bad genes
doesn't mean you
don't have other
good genes that
would trump them
as 23 percent of
people who didn'
t have one of
these genetic
signatures went
on to live to
100, Perls said.
"I think a lot
of study needs
to be done as to
what guidance
physicians and
health-care
providers can
give to
individuals as
to what they do
with this
information,"
Perls said. In
particular,
there could be
implications
from an
insurance point
of view. The
study was
published in the
July issue of
Science. |
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