The question is who will be able to live to a 100? Scientists say that the answer might be encrypted in our genes.
Scientists from Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine and the Boston Medical Center have spotted genes that are related to longevity. They have also been able to predict through the use of genetics, whether the participant in the study will be likely to become a centenarian or not. The result of the study will be published in an issue of the Journal Science.
Co-author Dr. Thomas Perls of Boston Medical Center said in a press conference that genes might help to predict whether one will suffer from disease. It can also act as a tool for physicians to introduce medical interventions even before potential pathologies surfaces.
The study claims that people who are able to live to a 100 year are models of healthy aging. Perls who is the founder and director of the New England Centenarian study says that earlier researches suggested that 90 percent of centenarians are disability-free up to the age of 93.
New England Centenarian study is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and it is the world’s largest study on centenarians.
The research involved a total of 1,055 centenarians as well as 1,267 controlled people who had not reached the age of 100. The researchers examine the genetic of the controlled groups and compared their genetic background to those born in the 1910 or earlier.
All the centenarians from Boston were Caucasian. Perl claims that further studies have to be conducted for other ethnicities and participants. He also mentioned that his team is now collaborating with a group in Japan to examine genes across different backgrounds. It is not necessary that the same genes are responsible for health aging. It can be that different ethnic groups produced unique genes enabling people to become centenarians.
The researchers spotted 150 variations in DNA sequences namely polymorphisms and single nucleotide, which might have helped centenarians to enjoy a health aging. Interestingly, in the controlled group 15 percent had these longevity genes. In pure theory, it would practically mean that roughly 15 percent of American’s population is destined to become centenarians.
Yet, the current national figures for developed countries are much lower, per 6,000 people only one survives to a 100. In the United States of America, there are roughly only 80,000 centenarians (per 2010). Unfortunately, currently only one person will survive and become a “supercentenarian” in a population of 7 million. The main reason for this low figure is that, the current centenarians were born in a time where medicine advancement was stumpy and life expectancy was under 50. This implies that genetic is only one factor determining longevity, lifestyle and environment does also play a predominate role.
In the study the scientists were, nevertheless, able to forecast who would become a centenarian with a precision of 77 percent through the use of genetic samples alone.
Dr. Nir Barzilai who is the director of the Institute of Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, says that it is significant to search for genes that can help to safeguard on from aging. It is something that can be done once we are aware that genetics is a ruling factor of longevity.
The scientists considered 77 percent accuracy to be very positive. However, the result demonstrates that 23 percent of centenarians do not necessarily have the ideal genetic signature. This means that environmental factors are still vital.
Normally, centenarians do not usually tend to be obese and seldom have a history of smoking. An example of how lifestyle influences longevity can be observed on the Seventh-day Adventists, which is a religious group in US where the average lifespan of all its members are 88 years. The religion regulates their lifestyle; they do regularly exercise, consume vegetarian diets and do also avoid smoking and alcohol. Involvement in exercise does effectively help to reduce stress and promote them to live beyond American’s national average lifespan, which is 78 years.
Perls says that “It really does speak to the incredible importance of lifestyle factors”. However, to live an additional 10 to 15 years beyond 88, genetics appears to contribute.
Genetic signature can help to impede diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia. These are common causes of death and thus hindrances for longevity.
According to Perls, it is essential to understand the various means to survive up to a 100.
The study did fortunately spot three particular genetic signatures that were prevalent in 40 percent of all supercentenarians.
Unexpectedly, the research did not spot major genetic differences related to aging disease between the control groups and the centenarians. Paola Sebastiani, a professor of biostatistics at Boston University of Public Health as well as the lead author of the study said that maybe centenarians survive due to genes related to longevity and not genes that protect them from illnesses.
It was even suggested that longevity-related genes could have the positive effect of crossing out links with diseases. In other words, according to the proposals, actual diagnosis for risk of diseases of aging is not fully conducted as longevity-associated genes are excluded. These are genes that might have the potential to cancel risks of aging diseases.
Earlier studies in the genetics of healthy aging have already contributed to the development of pharmaceutical products According to Barzilai, drugs such as CETP inhibitors meant to decrease “Bad” cholesterol (LDL) and augment “Good” cholesterol (HDL) are entering the market.
Barzilai is committed to help people to live up to a 100. Besides, centenarians must remain healthy and free of diseases at an advance age. In reality, the only drawback of these drugs can be said to be longevity.
Moreover, Barzilai said that there are lots of cost savings that can be reaped when living to a 100. Based on estimations, people who die at their 80s have to disburse as much as three times more on medical expenses in comparison to people who die at age of 100.
Perls underlined that the predictions done by companies of whether one will live to a 100 or not, are not always reliable because precision is merely of 77 percent. Factors such as environment and lifestyle are still of paramount of importance. They do influence the chance of living longer.
The interesting fact about the study is that there might be a possibility to introduce personalized medicine in the future. This involves developing medicine that improves our genetic signature.
Source: CNN
Sun, Jul 11, 2010
Anti Aging, Gerontology