Scientists Link Gene Changes to Longer Lives

Scientists Link Gene Changes to Longer Lives
A study looks at mutations that seem to play a part in extending longevity, while limiting growth. Transcript of radio broadcast:
10 June 2008

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Scientists continue to search for genetic answers to why some people live a long time.

One study has now examined more than four hundred fifty people between the ages of ninety-five and one hundred ten. Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York recently reported the latest findings.

The study looked at changes in genes that govern an important cell-signaling pathway. These genes are involved in the action of a hormone that affects almost every kind of cell in the body. The hormone is called insulin-like growth factor, or IGF-one.

Other researchers have found that mutations to the genes cause two effects in animals. The animals do not grow as big as others of their kind but they live longer. The Einstein team wondered if these changes might also influence how long humans live.

So they looked for the mutations in their study group of Ashkenazi, or Eastern European, Jews. Ashkenazi Jews are more genetically similar than most other groups, so any differences are easier to find.

The researchers compared the findings to other Ashkenazi Jews whose family members did not live as long. In the control group, they say, no one had the mutations. Yet even in the study group, where the average age was one hundred, only two percent of the people had them.

In other words, there are more answers waiting to be found. In recent years, the scientists have even identified so-called longevity genes.

The latest findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The mutations were found mostly in women. Daughters of those who lived to be one hundred had higher levels of the hormone than people in the control group. And they were an average of two and a half centimeters shorter.

A drug that decreases the action of the IGF-one hormone is currently being tested as a cancer treatment. Nir Barzilai, leader of the Einstein study, says the drug could be useful in delaying the effects of aging.

But he noted that the subjects in the study were born with their mutations. So it is not clear whether the drug would help people who receive it later.

Doctor Barzilai also points out that many people are receiving treatments with human growth hormone to try to delay the effects of aging. Yet he says if low growth-hormone action extends life, as the new findings suggest, then he wonders if getting more of it could shorten life.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Steve Ember.


----------------------------Google Translate

科学家连结基因的变化，以更长的生命
一项研究，看的突变似乎发挥的一部分，在延长寿命，同时限制增长。全文电台广播：
2008年6月10日

这是美国之音特别英语卫生报告。

科学家继续寻找遗传的答案为什么有些人生活很长的时间。

一项研究现在已审查了以上的450人，年龄介于95和110 。研究人员在艾伯特爱因斯坦医学院的神学院的大学在纽约举行的最近的报道，最新调查结果。

该项研究在变化的基因在执政的一个重要的细胞信号转导通路。这些基因参与了这一行动的激素影响到几乎每一个种细胞在人体中。激素是所谓的胰岛素样生长因子，或胰岛素样生长因子1 。

其他研究人员已经发现的突变基因，以造成两种效应在动物体内的。动物不成长为大，别人的客气，但他们活得更长。爱因斯坦队如果想知道，这些变化可能也影响到多久，人类的生活。

因此，他们期待为突变在其研究组的德系，或东欧，犹太人。德系犹太人是更多类似的基因比其他大多数团体，因此，任何分歧都更容易找到。

研究人员比较的结果，其他德系犹太人，其家庭成员不活，只要。在对照组中，他们说，没有人突变。然而，即使在研究组，那里的平均年龄为100 ，只有两个％的人了他们。

在其他换言之，有更多的答案，等待被发现。最近几年，科学家已经确定，甚至以所谓的长寿基因。

最新的研究成果发表在的Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences上。

突变被发现大多是在妇女。女儿的那些谁活到100了更高水平的激素比人在对照组。他们平均两年半厘米较短。

药物跌幅行动的胰岛素样生长因子1激素目前正处于测试作为癌症治疗。近红外光谱barzilai ，领导人对爱因斯坦的研究指出，药物可能是有用的，在拖延的影响，老化。

但他指出，该课题在研究出生，与他们的基因突变。因此，目前尚不清楚是否有药物，将有助于人们谁得到它。

医生barzilai还指出，许多人正在接受治疗与人体生长激素，设法拖延的影响，老化。然而，他说，如果低增长的激素行动延长生命，作为新的调查结果显示，那么他不知道，如果获得更多的它可以缩短生命。

这是该美国之音特别英语卫生报告。我史蒂夫ember 。