Finding the gene for longevity

It’s not exactly the secret of immortality, but scientists have discovered the nearest thing to the secret of a long life. It’s in your genes.

Or rather, it’s in the gene called FOXO3A or the so-called “long life gene”, which The Hawaii Lifespan Study found was associated with better health and a longer life. The team led by Drs. Bradley Wilcox followed 8,000 Japanese-American men who had regular health exams since the 1960s, where they found that men who lived an average 98 years – the longevity group – had similarities in their genotypes.

Men who carry one copy of the nucleotide G at a certain location in the FOXO3A gene doubled their odds of living longer, while men who had two G copies almost tripled their odds of living beyond a century and were healthier at older ages. The men were also shown to have less heart disease, cancer and stroke, than a younger average-lived comparison group.

Previous studies of other “longevity-associated” genes in humans have been disappointing, so results from this study are very interesting. The next step now is to extend the study to other populations.

The study appeared in the September 16 issue of PNAS.