HLA and longevity.

One hundred fifty-five healthy nonagenarians, 45 men and 100 women, all French Caucasians, were phenotyped for alleles of the A, B, C, DR loci of the HLA complex. The observed HLA antigen frequencies were compared to those of a control series of 133 males and 179 females whose ages ranged from 10 to 50 years. When comparing the total young and elderly series, no significant differences were observed with respect to HLA antigen distribution or heterozygosity at any of the loci. When taking sex difference into account, however, an excess of the Cw1 antigen was found in the group of elderly females (p less than 0.001) and an excess of the Cw7 antigen in the group of elderly males (p less than 0.001). Of particular significance was the fact that Cw7 belonged in this instance to a phenotypic combination (and most probably to the corresponding haplotype) A1/Cw7/B8/DR3 which was found significantly increased in male nonagenarians (p less than 0.001). These results support the hypothesis that certain HLA haplotypes are associated with survival advantage.