Heritability of intrinsic human life span is about 50% when confounding factors are addressed

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Shenhar, Ben; Pridham, Glen; De Oliveira, Thais Lopes; Raz, Naveh; Yang, Yifan; Deelen, Joris; Hagg, Sara; Alon, Uri
• 署名单位: Weizmann Institute of Science; Karolinska Institutet; Westlake University; Leiden University; Leiden University - Excl LUMC; Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adz1187
• 发表日期: 2026-01-29
• 页码: 504-510
• 关键词: HUMAN LONGEVITY; twin; mortality; metaanalysis; DYNAMICS; genome; genes

摘要

How heritable is human life span? If genetic heritability is high, longevity genes can reveal aging mechanisms and inform medicine and public health. However, current estimates of heritability are low-twin studies show heritability of only 20 to 25%, and recent large pedigree studies suggest it is as low as 6%. Here we show that these estimates are confounded by extrinsic mortality-deaths caused by extrinsic factors such as accidents or infections. We use mathematical modeling and analyses of twin cohorts raised together and apart to correct for this factor, revealing that heritability of human life span due to intrinsic mortality is above 50%. Such high heritability is similar to that of most other complex human traits and to life-span heritability in other species.