Longevity gene link discovered

A team of scientists from four medical research centres in the US has discovered that a section of chromosome four contains a gene or genes associated with longevity.

By studying the genes of 137 people aged 100 years or more, and their siblings aged between 91 and 109, a section of the chromosome was identified as the same in all the participants. The researchers believe that the chromosome section may contain up to ten disease fighting genes, which may have protected the old people from debilitating diseases associated with age.

The researchers, who were led by geriatrician Thomas Perls and geneticist Lou Kunkel, now hope to find out exactly how each of the genes works in order to enable drugs to be developed that might be beneficial for older people. The scientists stress that the work is not intended to increase lifespan for its own sake, but to treat and prevent diseases in ageing people.

Perls said that the people involved in the study did not have a particular kind of lifestyle that might have affected the outcome of the study. 'An average set of genes will allow you to live to your mid or late eighties; to get another 20 years you have these disease resistant genes... Maybe having this special set of genes somehow allows them to get away with things. We believe these people represent the ideal genome', he said.