Imagine living to age 117. Imagine how healthy and spry you’d probably be at age 90, if your body was destined to live another 27 years.
Researchers led by Dr. Manel Esteller studied Maria Branyas, the Catalan woman who lived past 117.
They examined her genetics, proteins, epigenetics, metabolism and gut microbiome.
The study, published in Cell Reports Medicine, found something more complicated than simply slow aging.
Branyas showed clear signs of extreme biological aging while also having traits associated with unusually healthy longevity.
Aging Signs and Protective Traits
Her biology included very short telomeres, an aging immune system, and older B lymphocytes.
Yet she also had genetic characteristics linked to brain and heart protection.
Her inflammation levels were low, and her gut microbiome contained many beneficial bifidobacteria.
Researchers also found that her epigenetic biological age was younger than her chronological age.
The combination suggests that exceptional longevity may not require escaping aging completely.
A person might show substantial biological aging while retaining protective features that reduce some of its harmful effects.
That distinction could be useful because it separates the signs of getting older from the biological damage that actually leads to disease.
Connections to Blood Cancer
Aging in the blood-forming system is associated with greater risks of leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
Branyas’s biological profile could therefore help researchers understand why these diseases become more common with age and why some older people remain less vulnerable.
Studying Aging Without Major Disease
Branyas’s lack of serious illness was another unusual part of the case.
It gave scientists a rare chance to examine aging without major diseases obscuring the picture.
The researchers point out that her biology can’t prove that particular lifestyle choices caused her long life.
Still, they mention a healthy diet, an active and diverse social network, and avoiding harmful habits as possible influences.
The study gives researchers a detailed picture of extreme human longevity.
It may help them identify biological changes that could someday be slowed or reversed.
Scientists are already investigating epigenetic therapies and drugs that target senescent (aging) cells, including in cancer research. Both areas are closely connected to the biology of aging.
If life expectancy is beginning to plateau, treating the underlying biology of aging could become an important future strategy.
Instead of treating each age-related disease separately, medicine might eventually target some of the processes that make those diseases more likely.
