Polygenic effects of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms on life span: when association meets causality.

ABSTRACT: Recently we have shown that the human life span is influenced jointly by many common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), each with a small individual effect. Here we investigate further the polygenic influence on life span and discuss its possible biological mechanisms. First we identified six sets of prolongevity SNP alleles in the Framingham Heart Study 550K SNPs data, using six different statistical procedures (normal linear, Cox, and logistic regressions; generalized estimation equation; mixed model; gene frequency method). We then estimated joint effects of these SNPs on human survival. We found that alleles in each set show significant additive influence on life span. Twenty-seven SNPs comprised the overlapping set of SNPs that influenced life span, regardless of the statistical

SUBMITTER: Yashin AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3419841 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature