What makes people live to be 100 years old and stay healthy? Swiss researchers examined the blood of centenarians – and identified “youth-associated proteins”.
Medical advances are making it possible for more and more people to grow particularly old. In Switzerland, for example, the number of people over 85 has increased significantly over the past fifty years. Experts assume that this trend will continue to intensify in the future. It is estimated that every second child born in an industrialized country after 2000 will live to be 100 years old.
Centenarians receive particular attention in aging research. Studies have shown that, compared to the general population, they have greater resilience and a significantly lower susceptibility to diseases such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders and cardiovascular diseases.
But what is the key to longevity? A research team from the Swiss universities of Lausanne and Geneva examined the blood of people of different ages to better understand the mechanisms of healthy aging. In fact, certain proteins were found in the blood of the centenarians studied that were surprisingly similar to those of younger people. The results of the “Swiss100” study were recently published in the specialist magazine “Aging Cell”.
For the analysis, the scientists compared three groups: 40 centenarians, 60 people aged 80 and 40 adults between 30 and 60 years old. With the help of the 80-year-olds, it was possible to distinguish which characteristics are part of normal aging and which peculiarities affect people who live to be 100 years old.
In total, the researchers analyzed 724 proteins that are involved in aging processes and maintaining health in the participants’ blood. The authors wrote in the study that there were abnormalities in 37 proteins: The concentrations of these 37 proteins in the centenarians were more similar to those of the youngest comparison group than to those of the 80-year-olds. Researchers referred to these proteins as “youth-associated proteins.”
“In our centenarians, the profiles of these 37 proteins are more similar to those of the youngest age group than to those of octogenarians. This corresponds to about five percent of the measured proteins and suggests that centenarians do not completely escape the aging process, but that certain key mechanisms are significantly slowed down,” Flavien Delhaes, lead author of the study, is quoted as saying in a statement.
The clearest differences were seen in five proteins linked to oxidative stress. They are suspected of accelerating aging. Oxidative stress has two main causes: chronic inflammation and defective mitochondria that release harmful molecules.
“Centarians have lower levels of such proteins than the average older population. At first glance, this seems counterintuitive. However, this means that our centenarians need fewer antioxidant proteins for defense due to significantly lower oxidative stress,” explains Delhaes.
The 37 proteins also included those that are involved in the defense against cancer, as well as some that support or even optimize metabolism. Inflammatory proteins were only found in small quantities.
“Our study underlines the importance of a healthy lifestyle that we can all actively influence. Since the genetic component of longevity only accounts for around 25 percent, lifestyle in adulthood is a decisive factor,” the authors conclude.
