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Title: 'Long-life' genes found in 100-year-old humans
Source:
New Scientist
URL Source: [None]
Published: Mar 3, 2008
Author: Andy Coghlan
Post Date: 2008-03-03 17:44:41 by Tauzero
Keywords: None
Views: 462
Comments: 9
'Long-life' genes found in 100-year-old humans It's not quite the elixir of life, but researchers have at last identified gene variants that make people live longer. Men may miss out, as all carriers identified so far are women. They are also slightly shorter than average. "We are moving closer to understanding why some people live longer," says Nir Barzilai of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, New York, US, head of the team that identified the two gene mutations in centenarians of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Both mutations affect the receptor for insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), a driver of bodily growth and maturity, especially during puberty. By making the receptor slightly faulty, the mutations may disrupt IGF1 binding and decelerate the process of maturation and ageing. Worldwide search In support, they found circulating levels of IGF1 to be 37% higher in carriers of the mutation, probably to compensate for the underperforming receptor. Carriers were also 2.5 centimetres shorter on average than the general population. "This milestone result will no doubt stimulate a worldwide search for IGF1 mutations in other centenarian populations," says Martin Holzenberger, a longevity researcher at Inserm in St Antoine, France. Similar mutations affect longevity in worms, flies, yeast and mice. Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0705467105)
22:00 03 March 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Andy Coghlan
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 6.
#4. To: Tauzero (#0)
By the time they're 100, you'd better believe they're shorter than average.
That's surely true with my Dad, who is only 95. Between his prime years,5'10 and now, he's lost over 6 inches.
#7. To: rowdee, Sam Houston (#6)
At 96, Grandpap seems to have only shed an inch or two, but he still gets out and about a lot. My Mom was relieved when he got into the 80's because he was going to build a gyro-copter from scratch and she figured by then that he was to old to get that project going and kill himself (he can make freakin' anything). This is the side of the family that we have a pic of me (a toddler), Mom, Grandpap, Great Grandpap, and Great Great Grandpap holding me and the latter was born in 1862 and died about 1968/69. As for political leanings, this man places a time stamp on recounting something with phrases like "Back before Roosevelt stole everybodies gold!" and "before government became one and the same with "Ma!, Ma!, I need my mama!!"" I got him a 1912 half dollar for his 94th birthday and he commented that that was "money that can still buy something, from when it was real!" Aside from having/had (my fathers parents passed last June for Grandmother and on the 9th of February this year for Grandfather) the most kick ass grandparents on the face of the planet (until I was 42 no less for all of them!), I love hard core old people in general, real "been there, done that's" types, I could listen to them for hours... BTW, his union called him last year thinking they were being scammed because he's drawn a pension for something like 35 years from them now. They got a chuckle when they asked if "Mr. G" was deceased and he replied "Nope, still here..." Of course, having a front yard that looks like this helps in longevity...
Hates going to the doctor, "They kill ya!"...
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#6. To: Sam Houston (#4)
Replies to Comment # 6. 
#8. To: rowdee, Sam Houston (#6)
BTW
End Trace Mode for Comment # 6.