Niki-Vaia Kolovou, Genovefa Kolovou, Olga Diakoumakou, Ioannis Vasiliadis, Elizabeth Fragopoulou, Constantinos Demopoulos, Smaragdi Antonopoulou
Abstract
Ageing process and maintenance of human life span are being investigated worldwide. Humans who live longer than the average life span are characterized as humans with “longevity syndrome”. Longevity and ageing are the two faces of a coin, and are depending on genetic, biochemical, environmental and on phycological factors. There are numerous genes that are involved in longevity. However, multiple analyses have shown that genetic factors depend on ethnicity and this is the reason that many genetic associations are controversial. It is necessary further investigation in this field in order to understand the mechanisms and the effect of candidate genes in longevity. Furthermore, the knowledge of the results will be helpful in medicine and maintenance of the human quality of life in ageing.
Keywords: longevity, ageing, biochemical pathways, genes, polymorphism