Genetics of longevity. data from the studies on Sicilian centenarians

As well known, life expectancy is a familial trait and longevity is determined by different factors. In particular, the environmental milieu and genetic background play a central role. As demonstrated by many epidemiological studies, family members of long-lived subjects have a significant survival advantage compared to general population. In this context, the study of centenarian offspring (CO), a group of healthy elderly people with a familiar history of longevity, might help gerontologists to better identify the correlation between genetic profile and hope of a healthy ageing. Previous studies have reported that CO, like their centenarian parents, have genetic and immune system advantages, which reflect a minor risk to develop major age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension or diabetes mellitus as well as cancer [1,2]. The lower cardiovascular disease risk in CO suggests the probability that CO have some protective factors against atherosclerosis, such as a good lipid profile. Male CO have higher plasma HDL-C levels and lower plasma LDL-C levels. Since lipid profile is directly correlated to atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, this metabolic feature could preserve CO both to develop these diseases and, as consequence, to reach a healthy ageing and longer survival [3]. Furthermore, Rose et al. [4] reported that centenarians and CO show significantly higher levels of heteroplasmy in mtDNA control region than controls, a favorable condition for longevity.In these last years, some researchers have speculated about the distinctive immunological profile of offspring enriched for longevity respect to the immunological features of coeval elderly. The cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the most common viruses that affect elderly people. Many evidences have shown that CMV infection may influence the T cell subset distribution, having an essential role in immunosenescence [5-7]. CMV infection is strongly related to both a reduction of CD8+CD45+CC