Scholars have been fascinated and intrigued by the cases of some centenarians, such as those living in Okinawa, a group of islands in southern Japan, who live a long and healthy life without particular structural and functional alterations of cardiac activity linked to aging . That’s because they have one variant of the BPIFB4 gene, known as “of longevity“, which protects against cardiovascular damage and keeps the heart healthy for longer. A discovery made in 2015 by a study published in the journal Circulation Research.
In the DNA of centenarians, scholars have identified a variant of a gene (LAV-BPIFF4, longevity associated variant), which determines a more important production of the BPIFB4 protein, the one that gives elasticity to blood vessels, slowing down and reversing the natural aging process of the endothelial cells, which line the inside of the walls of the heart, blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, as reported by Today.it.
Researchers have administered the gene to heart cells of elderly patients with severe heart problems in the laboratory, then comparing their function with that of healthy individuals. Well, the results have shown that LAV-BPIFF4 plays an important role in the maintenance of pericytic cells, very important for the construction of new blood vessels and their maintenance in good condition, and therefore to keep the heart functioning for a longer time. “The cells of elderly patients, in particular those that support the construction of new blood vessels, called ‘pericytes’, have been found to be less performing and more aged – says Monica Cattaneo, researcher of the MultiMedica Group and first author of the work – . By adding the longevity gene/protein to the test tube, we observed a process of cardiac rejuvenation: the heart cells of elderly patients with heart failure have started to function properly, proving to be more efficient in building new blood vessels “. A new discovery that bodes well for the future of research and appropriate therapies.
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Great research with one exception: in the first part of the study the importance of both blood and lymph vessels is noted however in the study results only an increase in blood vessels is mentioned. I’d like to point out that blood vessels never form without supporting lymphatic vessels and the obvious conclusion is that lymphatic vessels also formed in the study results. Given the new research into lymphatic vessel involvement in immune signalling and cellular environment regulation this seems like an important oversight.