Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Apr;27(4):1936-1944. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01461-6. Epub 2022 Feb 8.
The world population is getting older and studies aiming to enhance our comprehension of the underlying mechanisms responsible for health span are of utmost interest for longevity and as a measure for health care. In this review, we summarized previous genetic association studies (GWAS) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) of elderly cohorts. We also present the updated hypothesis for the aging process, together with the factors associated with healthy aging. We discuss the relevance of studying older individuals and build databanks to characterize the presence and resistance against late-onset disorders. The identification of about 2 million novel variants in our cohort of more than 1000 elderly Brazilians illustrates the importance of studying highly admixed populations of non-European ancestry. Finally, the ascertainment of nonagenarians and particularly of centenarians who were recovered from COVID-19 or remained asymptomatic opens new avenues of research aiming to enhance our comprehension of biological mechanisms associated with resistance against pathogens.
世界人口正在老龄化，旨在增进我们对健康跨度的潜在机制的理解的研究对于长寿和医疗保健至关重要。在这篇综述中，我们总结了老年队列的先前遗传关联研究（GWAS）和下一代测序（NGS）。我们还提出了与衰老过程相关的更新假设，以及与健康衰老相关的因素。我们讨论了研究老年人的相关性，并建立数据库来描述迟发性疾病的发生和抵抗情况。在我们对 1000 多名巴西老年人的队列中发现了大约 200 万个新变体，这说明了研究非欧洲血统高度混合人群的重要性。最后，对 90 岁以上的老年人，特别是从 COVID-19 中康复或无症状的百岁老人进行鉴定，为增强我们对与病原体抵抗相关的生物学机制的理解开辟了新的研究途径。
