A description of the relationship in healthy longevity and aging-related disease: from gene to protein

Abstract

Human longevity is a complex phenotype influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. It is also known to be associated with various types of age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The central dogma of molecular biology demonstrates the conversion of DNA to RNA to the encoded protein. These proteins interact to form complex cell signaling pathways, which perform various biological functions. With prolonged exposure to the environment, the in vivo homeostasis adapts to the changes, and finally, humans adopt the phenotype of longevity or aging-related diseases. In this review, we focus on two different states: longevity and aging-related diseases, including CVD and AD, to discuss the relationship between genetic characteristics, including gene variation, the level of gene expression, regulation of gene expression, the level of protein expression, both genetic and environmental influences and homeostasis based on these phenotypes shown in organisms.

The genetic correlation and causal association between key factors that influence vascular calcification and cardiovascular disease incidence

“…Studies have shown that different alleles of the same gene locus affect homeostasis of vascular microenvironment through regulation of expression, which may lead to two opposite outcomes: CVDs and longevity ( 18 ). Longevity and CVD are both interconnected and opposites ( 19 ). Therefore, in our study, besides the normal control, longevity was also used as a negative control to compare with CVD.…”