Serena Dato

Genetic Determinants of Human Longevity Serena Dato

In the last two decades, due to the continuous increase of lifespans in Western
societies, and the consequent growing of the elderly population, have witnessed
an increase in the number of studies on biological and molecular factors able to
promote healthy aging and reach longevity. The study of the genetic component
of human longevity demonstrated that it accounts for 25% of intra population
phenotype variance. The efforts made to characterize the genetic determinants
suggested that the maintenance of cellular integrity, inflammation, oxidative
stress response, DNA repair, as well as the use of nutrients, represent the most
important pathways correlated with a longer lifespan. However, although a
plethora of variants were indicated to be associated with human longevity, only
very few were successfully replicated in different populations, probably because
of population specificity, missing heritability as well as a complex interaction
among genetic factors with lifestyle and cultural factors, which modulate the
individual chance of living longer. Thus, many challenges remain to be addressed
in the search for the genetic components of human longevity. This Special Issue is
aimed to unify the progress in the analysis of the genetic determinants of human
longevity, to take stock of the situation and point to future directions of the field.
We invite submissions for reviews, research articles, short-communications
dealing with genetic association studies in human longevity, including all types of
genetic variation, as well as the characterization of longevity-related genes.