Polymorphism of cytokine genes and human longevity

Abstract

With the goal of studying the molecular-genetics bases of human longevity, we genotyped an eth- nically homogenous sampling of people (Tatars from the Republic of Bashkortostan) by polymorphism in the genes of interleukin 6 (IL-6, 7p21, -572G>C, rs1800796), 10 (IL-10, 1q31-q32, -627C>A, rs1800792), 12 (IL-12B, 5q31.1-q33.1, -1159C>A) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α, 6p21.3, -308G>A, rs1800629). We characterized the distribution frequencies of alleles and genotypes in different age groups, including old men and long-livers. We revealed the association of -627C>A polymorphism of gene IL-10 in men, and -572G>C polymorphism of gene IL-6 and polymorphism -308G>A of gene TNF-α in women. On the whole, these data confirm the hypothesis that polymorphism of cytokine genes can influence human lifespan. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2011.