July 31, 2020
Keio University School of Medicine
Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)
A research group led by Senior Assistant Professor Yasumichi Arai, Project Assistant Professor Takumi Hirata (at the time of the study; currently Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University), and Guest Professor (Part-time) Nobuyoshi Hirose of the Center for Supercentenarian Medical Research (Director: Hideyuki Okano) at the Keio University School of Medicine, in collaboration with Professor Yuichi Oike from the Department of Molecular Genetics, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, and Professor Tetsuo Adachi from the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmaceutics, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, conducted a multi-generational elderly cohort study of 1,427 individuals, including 36 supercentenarians (aged 110 and over), to investigate the association between blood biomarkers related to cardiovascular disease and life prognosis. The results showed that NT-proBNP, a biomarker for heart failure, is associated with the life prognosis of long-lived individuals, independent of classical cardiovascular disease risk factors. They found that NT-proBNP is strongly associated with life expectancy, particularly after the age of 105, and that lower blood levels of this molecule are linked to a higher probability of reaching 110 years of age or older. Furthermore, lower levels of albumin, which reflects nutritional status and is also an important prognostic factor in the elderly, were associated with higher all-cause mortality across all age groups.
This study reveals a part of the biological characteristics of supercentenarians approaching the limits of human lifespan and is expected to contribute to the prevention of cardiovascular disease, a growing concern with an aging population, and the development of new therapies.
This research was published in the online edition of the British scientific journal "Nature Communications" on July 30, 2020 (UK time).
For the full press release, please see below.