A study led by Professor José Viña, Professor of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Valencia and coordinator of Research on Metabolism and Organ Damage of INCLIVA Health Research Institute, reveals that centenarians share more genes with young people under 30 years than with octogenarians. The study, the findings of which were recently published in Nature Scientific Reports, was conducted over three years with thirty patients in collaboration with Dr. Juan Antonio Avellana from the Hospital de la Ribera (Alzira) and shows that centenarians have more similarities at molecular level with young people than with elders.
This research line was initiated following the observation that many people reach one hundred years with full physical and mental shape. Both oxidative stress and levels of a growth factor at the nervous level (BDNF) were studied, alongside some genetic characteristics of people over 100 years, compared with a group of people of about 80 years and another group people of about 30 years of age. The results were revealing: the centenarians have less oxidative stress than the octogenarians and, in turn, it is very similar to that of younger people. Moreover, the levels of nerve growth factor are higher in centenarians and young people in relation with octogenarians. Furthermore, the expression of a small regulatory RNA molecules, called microRNAs, is very similar in centenarians and young people, but different in the octogenarians.
The study has shown that centenarians express four microRNAs, coinciding with the young people studied and that are absent in octogenarians. Therefore, "we could be looking at a sample of extreme longevity genes," said Vines, who is researching the regulation of genes of centenarians, as well as the influence of diet and exercise on longevity genes.
The results of this paper can open new research projects, for example, the genetic study on octogenarians that are children of centenarians. Moreover, this line of work can contribute to advances in the so-called gene therapy of
longevity, which in the future may enable healthier aging.
Story by Radio University on the topic: http://mediauni.uv.es/2364
Last update: 27 de february de 2013 10:07.
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