Longevity Gene Study, The hype cycle must die!

You know what I love. I love a good story.

Magic research discovers Longevity genes, now humans live to 900. Just like Methusaleh.

Great headline. Unfortunately, this may not exactly turn out what it was cracked up to be.

From the WSJ 1 July 2010

"Scientists discover keys to long life"

"By analyzing the DNA of the world's oldest people.......They expect soon to offer a test...."

Tranlsation, here is why you should read this story about this amazing discovery, because soon you can take a test to discover if you will live a very, very long time.

Ok, this assumes

1. The study is correct
2. The statistics are correct
3. The findings are replicated

What's worse about the article is that there isn't even One Iota of, this is a preliminary and needs to be backed up.

Instead!

Instead, they say

"The free test will be available through a public website maintained by the New England Centenarian Study"

Come An' Get It!

Well, the website doesn't have the free test. But I bet it had a million hits the day the WSJ article and the press hype came out.

One may ask, as I am now, Once the afterglow fades, what will be of this test? Further, will the paper now stand the test of scientific scrutiny.

Just this week, despite the hype machine again rearing its ugly head like it did with Time's invention of the year in '08 or the blimps and Oprah. "An Age Old Problem Solved"? Really Globe and Mail?......We are met with discourse and doubt

There are some issues with the paper. Some skeptical about the effect size. Other's, like myself are skeptical because the SNP chip used for controls and cases was not EXACTLY the same. This can at times produce noise and false positive variants....

I am going to ask the hype machine again. Before running with an AMAZING Story, Mr. Hotz and everyone else in the press. Please take the time to get both sides and an analysis of the study BEFORE publishing the story.

The Sherpa Says: I hope this does pan out though, it sure would be interesting to have an estimate, in this case 77% accurate if you would live to 100. I use family history for this and it is not as accurate as 77%. Who gets that number anyways?

Vineyards and Longevity?

A friend of mine told me that she was on a wine tour and went to a Vineyard called Chamard. While there she was given a brochure.....The brochure contained information regarding the Methusaleh Project. It turns out that the vineyard was recently bought by Dr Rothberg.

I found this an interesting place to recruit for the study. True, the elderly have imbibed, and those visiting vineyards often are retired. So perhaps this is an adequate place for sampling.

I just wanted to mention the Methusaleh project again. Personally I think this is an intriguing idea. I have examined Nir Barzilai's project as well.

Imagine...go to a vineyard, get a cheek swab.

Longevity Genetics....What's Old is New!

Today in the news there are reports of Dr. Jonathan Rothberg's plans to extract DNA from the saliva of 100 people over the age of 95. It was also posted on back in July on ABC. I would just like to bring attention to it again and compare this with the work that has already been done by one scientist.

The idea is to study those who have lived a long time. Perhaps there is something in their make up which keeps them alive despite the stressors which all of us face. This is nothing new. Nir Barzilai at Albert Einstein College of Medicine has been doing this for years. I have been at several of his lectures. There is a nice video on SAGE Crossroads about what he is and has done.

Rothberg's project is aptly named the Methselah Project after the famed biblical man who live to be 969 years of age. This is not to be confused with the "rock band" or the biblical revival (hits one and two on my google search)

What will he find. Well let's examine what Nir found. Of the findings, notable were the polymorphisms on cholesterol genes including homozygosity for the -641C allele in the APOC3 promoter as well as a markedly higher frequency of a functional CETP variant that led to increased particle sizes of HDL and LDL and thus a better health performance are some of the first examples of a phenotype and an associated genotype in humans with exceptional longevity.

The CETP example is interesting simply because of a drug that was recently pulled from trials. It was called Torcetrapib. It was designed to boost the levels of HDL by blocking the function of Cholesterol Ester Transfer Protein (CETP). The problem? Increased blood pressure, then stroke and heart attack. When they released data showing increased BP it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that there would be increased heart attack and stroke. But they continued the trials despite this until finally the data implicated Torcetrapib in increased risk of stroke and MI.

What will Dr Jonathan's project show. Hopefully some of the same linkages. Will we "Cure" aging by figuring out these markers? Well Hsien posts on this topic over at Eye on DNA. I would be interested in what my readers and fellow bloggers have to say. Send me an email.

The Sherpa Says: Longevity genetics is a lot like nutrigenomics......As Dr Ordovas says regarding diet and genes "It is like looking through the keyhole of a door." The relationships are truly complicated and it will take a while till we can recommend measures to prevent Aging. Oh the horrors of this dreaded disease! The Buddha would say differently and so would the Sherpa.