New genes identified for human longevity

13. October 2017

Elucidating factors that influence human longevity is of great interest to a number of disciplines in medicine and biology. In this study, LIGA contributed genome-wide data from the Berlin Aging Study II to a meta-analysis using parental life span in >600000 individuals as outcome measure. We identified associations at HLA-DQA/DRB1 and LPA and found that genetic variants that increase educational attainment positively affects lifespan whereas increasing BMI showed negative effects. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.