Limitations of the Human Gene!

Humans are unlikely ever to live beyond the age of 125, say researchers who claim we are already close to the lifespan limit.
The scientists studied survival data dating back to 1900 from more than 40 countries.
They found evidence of increasing average life expectancy, meaning that over time more people lived to a ripe old age.

Babies born in the US today could expect to live nearly to the age of 79, on average.
In comparison, average life expectancy for Americans born in 1900 was only 47.
But the same study highlighted how unusual it was to live beyond 100, regardless of the year in which people were born.
The team calculated that 125 was likely to be the absolute limit of human lifespan due to genetic factors.

 Jeanne Calment reached 122 years

Lead researcher, Professor Jan Vig, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, said: "Demographers as well as biologists have contended there is no reason to think that the on-going increase in maximum lifespan will end soon.
"But our data strongly suggest that it has already been attained and that this happened in the 1990s.
"Further progress against infectious and chronic diseases may continue boosting average life expectancy, but not maximum lifespan.
"While it's conceivable that therapeutic breakthroughs might extend human longevity beyond the limits we've calculated, such advances would need to overwhelm the many genetic variants that appear to collectively determine the human lifespan.
"Perhaps resources now being spent to increase lifespan should instead go to lengthening healthspan - the duration of old age spent in good health."
The study, published in the journal Nature, focused on people living to 110 or older between 1968 and 2006 in the US, UK, France and Japan.
Age at death for these super-centenarians rose rapidly between the 1970s and early 1990s but reached a plateau in the mid-1990s.
French woman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 aged 122, achieved the longest documented lifespan of any person in history.

Gene Research - NUI Galway

New research by scientists in Galway has discovered that a gene known to have cancer-suppressing properties is far more potent than had previously been thought.

TP53 is a recognised tumour suppressor gene, as it prevents cancer cells from multiplying in the body by stopping the division of cells or triggering the destruction of them.
The team, led by Professor Noel Lowndes at the Centre for Chromosome Biology at the National University of Ireland Galway, has found TP53 directly regulates the repair of broken DNA.
This is important, because broken DNA can result in cell death or loss of genetic information in those cells that survive the break.

NUI Galway scientists discovered that the gene influences the regulation of the two pathways that can lead to the repair of broken DNA

In the research, published in the journal Open Biology, the scientists discovered that the gene influences the regulation of the two pathways that can lead to the repair of the DNA.
"Thus, loss of TP53 during cancer development will drive the evolution of cancer cells towards ever more aggressive cancer types," said Professor Lowndes.
The team hopes that the information they have discovered could in the future be used in the development of new methods of diagnosing and treating a range of different cancers.

Lung Cancer Management - Ireland

Lung cancer treatments that are currently in the development stage could be of particular benefit to Irish patients, it has emerged.

 

It comes as a study released by the Irish Cancer Society has suggested that the rate of mutation of a specific gene called PIK3CA is high in the Irish population compared to the international rate.

Treatments that target the mutation of this gene are currently under development and it has now emerged that these could be of particular benefit to Irish lung cancer patients.

The research was funded by the Irish Cancer Society, which said that it uncovered promising new avenues that could lead to novel therapies to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 80pc of lung cancers and despite advances in anti-cancer therapies, the overall survival rate for lung cancer patients remains poor.

The research study announced yesterday, which was led by Dr. Susan Heavey and supervisor Dr. Kathy Gately, investigated a gene pathway called P13K.

It is known to play a key role in the control of cell growth.

Heightened activity of this pathway has been found to be associated with a more aggressive disease and poorer outcome for patients.

The research identified that a targeted drug called DHMEQ was highly effective at reducing growth of chemotherapy-resistant lung cancer cells.

However, the charity said that further work was required to investigate this finding.
The research group has secured funding from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) to continue the work.

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Are you a lark or an owl?

Whether you prefer being up at dawn or burning the midnight oil depends on your genes, experts have found.

Some of us leap out of bed each morning, raring to start the day. Others need at least one alarm clock - preferably one with a snooze button - to ensure they get to work on time.

And some of us happily stay up chatting until the wee small hours, while others prefer to be tucked up listening to 'Book at Bedtime' with the lights turned out.

We really are divided into larks and owls. And this is set by our genes, says neurogeneticist Dr Louis Ptacek of University of California.

He says: "Whether we like it or not our parents are telling us when to go to bed - based on the genes that they gave us."

Scientists have come to realise the importance of understanding a person's chronotype, the time of the day when they function the best.  Knowing how much of a lark or an owl we are should help us live more healthily in the modern 24/7 world.

The results have been published recently in the January 12 issue of Cell  -  click on title below:

Modeling of a Human Circadian Mutation Yields Insights into Clock Regulation by PER2

View article on BBC News/Health