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Lack of replication of genetic associations with human longevity

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Abstract

The exceptional longevity of centenarians is due in part to inherited genetic factors, as deduced from data that show that first degree relatives of centenarians live longer and have reduced overall mortality. In recent years, a number of groups have performed genetic association studies on long-living individuals (LLI) and young controls to identify alleles that are either positively or negatively selected in the centenarian population as consequence of a demographic pressure. Many of the reported studies have shown genetic loci associated with longevity. Of these, with the exception of APOE, none have been convincingly reproduced. We validated our populations by typing the APOE locus. In addition, we used 749 American Caucasian LLI, organized in two independent tiers and 355 American Caucasian controls in the attempt to replicate previously published findings. We tested Klotho (KL)-VS variant (rs952706), Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein (CETP) I405V (rs5882), Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) Q192R (rs662), Apolipoprotein C-III (APOC3) -641C/A (rs2542052), Microsomal Transfer Protein (MTP) -493G/T (rs2866164) and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε2 and ε4 isoforms, (rs7412 and rs429358) haplotypes respectively. Our results show that, at present, except for APOE, none of the selected genes show association with longevity if carefully tested in a large cohort of LLI and their controls, pointing to the need of larger populations for case–control studies in extreme longevity.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants of Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR); Contract grant number: FIRB RBIN04X9XE. The authors wish to thank Elixir Pharmaceuticals Inc. for providing the collection of centenarians and controls.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetic Department, IRCCS Multimedica, via Milanese 300, Sesto S. Giovanni (Milan), 20099, Italy

    Valeria Novelli, Chiara Viviani Anselmi, Roberta Roncarati, Alberto Malovini & Annibale Alessandro Puca

  2. University of Milano, Milano, Italy

    Guia Guffanti

  3. Second University of Naples, Napoli, Italy

    Giulio Piluso

Authors
  1. Valeria Novelli
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  2. Chiara Viviani Anselmi
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  3. Roberta Roncarati
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  4. Guia Guffanti
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  5. Alberto Malovini
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  6. Giulio Piluso
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  7. Annibale Alessandro Puca
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Correspondence to Annibale Alessandro Puca.

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Novelli, V., Viviani Anselmi, C., Roncarati, R. et al. Lack of replication of genetic associations with human longevity. Biogerontology 9, 85–92 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-007-9116-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-007-9116-4

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