Pinpointing healthy ageing markers
The EC-funded T-CIA project set out to investigate how human T lymphocytes age over time and sought biomarkers to monitor the ageing process. Comparing healthy donors versus those with certain pathologies could yield important insights into how we age and how our immune system behaves during the process. Partners focused on the isolation of immunogenetic markers associated with successful ageing using samples from healthy donors aged 66 to 99 years old. The study was carried out across Bulgaria and included healthy young donors aged between 21 to 35 years, used as controls. High level expression of a series of interleukin genes was found to be associated with longevity in Bulgaria. A number of other genotypes were linked to healthy ageing among the Bulgarian elderly population; specifically single nucleotide polymorphisms. Conclusions can be drawn once all data have been statistically analysed and recommendations on biomarkers can then be made.
