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American Morning

Chromosome 4 Has Key to Longevity

Aired August 27, 2001 - 09:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The secret to long life? Well the secret to long life, like so many other secrets our there that science has uncovered recently, well the answer to that seems to be in our genes.

Our science correspondent Ann Kellan is joining us with the details of a discovery that could mean longer and healthier lives for all of us?

ANN KELLAN, CNN SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a start. How would you like to live a longer life, or know that your genetic makeup could determine whether you have a long life? That's basically what scientists wanted to figure out, and that's what they were studying.

They looked at 137 pairs of siblings who had -- one of them had to be 98 years and older, the other one they studied had to between -- were between 91 and 109 years old. Now Leon, keep in mind that that's about one in 10,000 people reaching to that age. So, it is quite a unique group.

What they did, is they wanted to study their DNA and see if there's anything in their DNA that genetically predisposing you to a long life. So, what they were able to do -- you are seeing all of those chromosomes there -- they found a similarity, and it was in chromosome number 4. And what they were able to do is look at that chromosome, go in there, and now what they're in the midst of doing is looking for the genes.

Now, chromosome 4 has between 100 to 500 genes. So they have to find the genes that are linked to longevity. But now they know the vicinity of where this could possibly be. They don't exactly yet what these genes do, whether it helps people fight disease, or it makes you resistant to environmental factors like pollution, and drinking too much, or eating too much. But they don't know that yet.

If they could find this out, they could possibly develop therapies, treatments for those who aren't so lucky and don't lead that long of a life.

HARRIS: When they say long life, have they any clue as to how long a life they're talking about, maybe, possibly creating here?

KELLAN: Well they think that -- what they are looking at are people who live 20 years longer than the average lifespan. So, these are the people in the 90s and 100s, and that is now 1 out of 10,000 people do that. So they're saying, well, if they do it right, this could take years because they still have to figure out how these genes work and everything. All of the other things who don't have that genetic predisposition could have a fountain aging.

HARRIS: Well we need a fountain of money to go along with it. Because if you outlive the money, what kind of fun is that?

KELLAN: That's true, exactly. That's right.

HARRIS: Thanks, Ann Kellan, for explaining it all. We will talk to you about this some more a little bit later.

KELLAN: Sure, absolutely.

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