Laboratory of Clinical Immunogenetics and Pharmacogenetics, Hirszfled Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
Clinic of Clinical Immunology and Stem Cell Bank, University Hospital Alexandrovska, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Aug 30;25(17):9457. doi: 10.3390/ijms25179457.
Aging is an exceptionally complex process that depends on genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Previous studies within the International HLA and Immunogenetics Workshop (IHIWS) component "Immunogenetics of Ageing" showed that longevity is associated with positive selection of HLA-DRB111- and DRB116-associated haplotypes, shown to be protective against diseases. Within the 18th IHIWS, we aimed to investigate the relevance of telomere length for successful aging and its association with classical HLAs. In total 957 individuals from Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, and Poland in two age groups, elderly individuals (age 65-99 years) and ethnically matched young group (age 18-64 years), were investigated. The obtained results confirmed interpopulation differences in the distribution of HLA alleles, documented the lengths of telomeres in analyzed populations, and demonstrated significant associations of telomere length with aging as well as with the presence of some HLA class I or class II alleles. They suggest that telomere length assessment combined with HLA genotyping may help identify immunogenetic profiles associated with longevity. The associations between HLA and telomeres support the theory that HLA genes influence the aging process. However, further research is needed to clarify the biological basis of the observed relationships.
衰老是一个极其复杂的过程，受遗传、环境和生活方式因素的影响。先前国际人类白细胞抗原和免疫遗传学研讨会（IHIWS）“衰老的免疫遗传学”部分的研究表明，长寿与 HLA-DRB111-和 DRB116 相关单倍型的正选择有关，这些单倍型被证明可以预防疾病。在第 18 届 IHIWS 中，我们旨在研究端粒长度对成功衰老的相关性及其与经典 HLA 的关联。在保加利亚、土耳其、罗马尼亚和波兰的两个年龄组（65-99 岁的老年人和 18-64 岁的年龄匹配的年轻人）中，共调查了 957 个人。研究结果证实了 HLA 等位基因在不同人群中的分布存在差异，记录了分析人群中端粒的长度，并证明了端粒长度与衰老以及某些 HLA Ⅰ类或Ⅱ类等位基因的存在之间存在显著关联。这些结果表明，端粒长度评估与 HLA 基因分型相结合，可能有助于确定与长寿相关的免疫遗传学特征。HLA 与端粒之间的关联支持 HLA 基因影响衰老过程的理论。然而，需要进一步的研究来阐明观察到的关系的生物学基础。
