Gene mutation linked to living much longer

CHICAGO - A gene that affects the size of molecules in blood cholesterol may help people live to be 100 or older by protecting against heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other diseases.

A study has found that the genetic propensity may be inherited, lending further proof to theories that living a long life may depend on inheriting the right genes.

The findings, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, were based on a look at long-living Ashkenazi Jewish men and women and their children.

The Jews of Eastern European descent were chosen because centuries of social isolation led to a genetic similarity that allowed for more precise research.

The 213 people in the study had an average age of 98 and nearly half were over 100. It also looked at 216 of their adult children.

Researchers found that the centenarians were three times more likely than the general population to have a genetic mutation that altered an enzyme involved in regulating blood fats and their particle size, leading to larger particles.

Their offspring were more than twice as likely to have the same mutation.

Ashkenazi families with the mutation tended to have increased levels of high density lipoproteins - HDL, or so-called "good" cholesterol - which appears to provide a protection against heart disease.

They also had larger molecules in HDL and in low density lipoprotein - LDL, or so-called "bad" cholesterol.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said there was increasing evidence that people with small LDL particles were at increased risk of suffering heart disease.

The Einstein researchers speculated that the larger particle size inhibited bad cholesterol from penetrating artery walls, where fats can build up as plaque.

"For this particular group of centenarians and their children, bigger lipoproteins do seem to be better," said Nir Barzilai, who led the research.

"Learning more about this trait, which appears to be highly heritable among these individuals, could do much to broaden our understanding of why they not only live extraordinarily long lives but also age remarkably well without developing many of the diseases typically associated with later life."

- REUTERS