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Journalism of Courage
A fascinating research looking for genetic clues to longevity has suggested that shorter women may have very long lives.
The research, described in the March issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the latest finding in the ongoing search for genetic clues to longevity by scientists at the New York-based Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
According to the research, a gene linked to living a very long life — to 90 and beyond — is also associated with short stature in women. Scientists found that mutations in genes governing an important cell-signaling pathway influence human longevity.
“Our findings suggest that, by interfering with IGF-I signaling, these gene mutations somehow play a role in extending the human life span, as they do in many other organisms,” says Dr Nir Barzilai, senior author of the study and director of the Institute for Aging Research at Einstein.
Einstein researchers’ have by now recruited more than 450 Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews between the ages of 95 and 110.
Descended from a small founder group, Ashkenazi Jews are more genetically uniform than other groups, making it easier to spot gene differences that are present. In 2003, this study resulted in the first two “longevity genes” ever identified—findings that have since been validated by other research.
The present study focused on genes involved in the action of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I), a hormone that in humans is regulated by human growth hormone.
