Apolipoprotein C-I Polymorphism and Its Association with Serum Lipid Levels and Longevity in the Bama Population

Which Factors Influence Healthy Aging? A Lesson from the Longevity Village of Bama in China

A growing aging population is associated with increasing incidences of aging-related diseases and socioeconomic burdens. Hence, research into healthy longevity and aging is urgently needed. Longevity is an important phenomenon in healthy aging. The present review summarizes the characteristics of longevity in the elderly population in Bama, China, where the proportion of centenarians is 5.7-fold greater than the international standard. We examined the impact of genetic and environmental factors on longevity from multiple perspectives. We proposed that the phenomenon of longevity in this region is of high value for future investigations in healthy aging and aging-related disease and may provide guidance for fostering the establishment and maintenance of a healthy aging society.

Specific Differentially Methylated and Expressed Genes in People with Longevity Family History

Background

We attempt to identify specific differentially methylated and expressed genes in people with longevity family history, it will contribute to discover significant features about human longevity.

Methods

A prevalence study was conducted during October 2017 to January 2019 in Bama County of Guangxi, China and individuals were recruited and grouped into longevity family (n=60) and non-longevity family (n=60) to identify differentially methylated genes (DMGs). The expression profile dataset GSE16717 was downloaded from the GEO database in which individuals were divided into 3 groups, namely longevity (n=50), longevity offspring (n=50) and control (n=50) for identifying differentially expressed genes (DEGs). It was considered significantly different when P or adjusted P≤0.05.

Results

In total, 117 longevity-related hypermethylated genes enriched in interleukin secretion/production regulation, chemokine signaling pathway and natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Another 296 significant key longevity-related DEGs primarily involved in protein binding, nucleus, cytoplasm, T cell receptor signaling pathway and Metabolic pathway, H19 and PFKFB4 were found to be both methylated and downregulated in people with longevity family history.

Conclusion

Human longevity-specific genes involve in many immunity regulations and cellular immunity pathways, H19 and PFKFB4 show hypermethylated and suppressed status in people with longevity family history and might serve as longevity candidate genes.

Genetics of Human Longevity Within an Eco-Evolutionary Nature-Nurture Framework

Human longevity is a complex trait, and to disentangle its basis has a great theoretical and practical consequences for biomedicine. The genetics of human longevity is still poorly understood despite several investigations that used different strategies and protocols. Here, we argue that such rather disappointing harvest is largely because of the extraordinary complexity of the longevity phenotype in humans. The capability to reach the extreme decades of human lifespan seems to be the result of an intriguing mixture of gene-environment interactions. Accordingly, the genetics of human longevity is here described as a highly context-dependent phenomenon, within a new integrated, ecological, and evolutionary perspective, and is presented as a dynamic process, both historically and individually. The available literature has been scrutinized within this perspective, paying particular attention to factors (sex, individual biography, family, population ancestry, social structure, economic status, and education, among others) that have been relatively neglected. The strength and limitations of the most powerful and used tools, such as genome-wide association study and whole-genome sequencing, have been discussed, focusing on prominently emerged genes and regions, such as apolipoprotein E, Forkhead box O3, interleukin 6, insulin-like growth factor-1, chromosome 9p21, 5q33.3, and somatic mutations among others. The major results of this approach suggest that (1) the genetics of longevity is highly population specific; (2) small-effect alleles, pleiotropy, and the complex allele timing likely play a major role; (3) genetic risk factors are age specific and need to be integrated in the light of the geroscience perspective; (4) a close relationship between genetics of longevity and genetics of age-related diseases (especially cardiovascular diseases) do exist. Finally, the urgent need of a global approach to the largely unexplored interactions between the 3 genetics of human body, that is, nuclear, mitochondrial, and microbiomes, is stressed. We surmise that the comprehensive approach here presented will help in increasing the above-mentioned harvest.