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What studies on human longevity tell us about the risk for cancer in the oldest old: data and hypotheses on the genetics and immunology of centenarians
- Source :
- Experimental Gerontology 37:10-11(Oct-Nov2002):1263-1271
- Publication Year :
- 2002
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2002.
-
Abstract
- Centenarians are people who escaped from major common diseases, including cancer, and reached the extreme limits of human life-span. The analysis of demographic data indicates that cancer incidence and mortality show a levelling off around the age of 85–90 years, and suggests that oldest old people and centenarians are protected from cancer onset and progression. In this paper, we review data of recent literature on the distribution in centenarians of germ-line polymorphisms, which are supposed to affect the individual susceptibility to cancer (p53, HRAS1, BRCA1, glutathione transferases, cytochrome oxidases, steroid-5 alpha-reductase enzyme type II). Moreover, we add new data on two p53 polymorphisms in a total of 1086 people of different age, including 307 centenarians. In addition, we put forth the hypothesis that the remodelling of the immune system occurring with age is capable of creating a hostile environment for the growth of cancer cells in these exceptional individuals. We conclude that future studies on centenarians regarding the germ-line variability of genes involved in the control of the immune response, including apoptosis (ApoJ), are likely to be of fundamental importance in understanding the basic mechanisms for cancer, aging and their complex relationship.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Gerontology
Cholestenone 5 alpha-Reductase
Aging
Future studies
Longevity
Genes, BRCA1
Apoptosis
Biology
Demographic data
Biochemistry
Glutathione transferase
Endocrinology
Gene Frequency
Risk Factors
Neoplasms
Genetics
medicine
Humans
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Molecular Biology
Aged
Glutathione Transferase
NADPH-Ferrihemoprotein Reductase
Polymorphism, Genetic
Individual susceptibility
Cancer
Cell Biology
Middle Aged
Genes, p53
medicine.disease
Oldest old
Apolipoproteins
Genes, ras
Cancer incidence
Human longevity
Lipoproteins, HDL
Oxidoreductases
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 05315565
- Volume :
- 37
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Experimental Gerontology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4c782b2a65b10ccbf23c91943d9b7beb