Genes Of Human Longevity: An Endless Quest?

Genes Of Human Longevity: An Endless Quest? Curr Vasc Pharmacol. 2013 Dec 18; Authors: Capri M, Santoro A, Garagnani P, Bacalini MG, Pirazzini C, Olivieri F, Procopio A, Salvioli S, Franceschi C Abstract Human longevity is a complex trait which genetics, epigenetics, environmental and stochasticity differently contribute to. To disentangle the complexity, our studies on genetics of longevity were, at the beginning, mainly focused on the extreme phenotypes, i.e. centenarians who escaped the major age-related diseases compared with cross sectional cohorts. Recently, we implemented this model by studying centenarians' offspring and offspring of non-long lived parents. In association studies on candidate genes many SNPs, positively or negatively correlated with longevity have been identified. The results obtained on Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 Receptor (IGF1R) polymorphisms showed a correlation between specific genetic variants combinations and the low plasma level of IGF1 in centenarians, suggesting an impact of the IGF-I/insulin pathway on human longevity. This pathway together with mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) will be reviewed being the most promising for longevity. Further, we will summarise the role of apolipoprotein E (APOE) variants in human longevity since the results of the large European project GEHA (Genetics of Healthy Aging) indicate APOE among the chromosomal loci associated with longevity. On the other hand, the identificat...
Source: Current Vascular Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Curr Vasc Pharmacol Source Type: research