William Atkins
Saturday, 27 September 2008 03:28
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 2
Some people just live longer and now Hawaiian researchers know why. They found that some people are born with a gene called FOX03a. Lucky folks!
The gene FOX03a gives these people three times the chance of living to the age of 95 years, when compared to people not born with this gene.
The article “
FOX03a genotype is strongly associated with human longevity” was published online September 2, 2008 in the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Its authors are Bradley J. Willcox, Timothy A. Donlon, Zimei He, Randi Chen, John S. Grove, Katsuchiko Yano, Kamal H. Masaki, D. Craig Willcox, Beatriz Rodriguez, and J. David Curb.
They are all associated with the non-profit biomedical research facility Pacific Health Research Institute (
PHRI), in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
The researchers studied human longevity because little is known medically about the genetic factors that favor some people living longer and aging slower than others.
They state in the abstract to their paper,
“Human longevity is a complex phenotype [the visible characteristics of an organism]
with a significant familial component, yet little is known about its genetic antecedents [predecessors]
.”
Animal studies have shown that a certain biological pathway—called the insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) pathway—has evolved that influences the aging of such animals.
As these scientists say,
“However, to date human data have been scarce."
So, these researchers decided to do something about this lack of data. Please read page two.
