This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (48)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Cardiovascular System  • Cardiovascular Disease/ Myocardial Infarction  • Genetics  • Genetic Disorders  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: A major trait characterizing centenarians is a relatively low frequency of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Since a proinflammatory genotype appears to contribute to the risk of ischemic heart disease, the prevalence of proinflammatory alleles would also be expected to be relatively low in people experiencing longevity.¹ Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), the activity of which may be modulated by genetic polymorphisms, is a signaling receptor in innate immune defense. It is activated by lipopolysaccharide from gram-negative bacteria and endogenous ligands, including those produced in response to tissue injury. TLR4 is expressed on virtually all cells. However, in atherosclerotic tissue its expression is markedly up-regulated, and the inflammatory mediators produced by its activation exert various atherogenic effects.^2-3 In this study, we evaluated whether prevalence of the TLR4 genotype may have an association with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and with longevity.

Methods. We studied 105 young Sicilian men (mean . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Carmela Rita Balistreri, SciD; Giuseppina Candore, PhD; Giuseppina Colonna-Romano, SciD; Domenico Lio, MD
Immunosenescence Unit
Department of Pathobiology and Biomedical Methodologies
University of Palermo
Palermo, Italy

Marco Caruso, MD; Enrico Hoffmann, MD
Department of Internal Medicine
Cardiovascular and Nephro-Urological Diseases
University of Palermo

Claudio Franceschi, MD
Italian National Research Center on Aging
Ancona, Italy
Department of Experimental Pathology and Interdepartmental Center "L. Galvani"
University of Bologna
Bologna, Italy

Calogero Caruso, MD
marcoc@unipa.it
Immunosenescence Unit
Department of Pathobiology and Biomedical Methodologies
University of Palermo

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Genetic Epidemiology in Aging Research
Fallin and Matteini
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2009;0:gln021v1-gln021.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prevalence in the United States of Selected Candidate Gene Variants: Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1991-1994
Chang et al.
Am J Epidemiol 2009;169:54-66.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Toll-like receptor signaling: a critical modulator of cell survival and ischemic injury in the heart
Chao
Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 2009;296:H1-H12.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Genetic-Demographic Approach Reveals Male-Specific Association Between Survival and Tumor Necrosis Factor (A/G)-308 Polymorphism
Cardelli et al.
Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 2008;63:454-460.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Review: Variability of host pathogen interaction
Hermann
Innate Immunity 2007;13:199-218.
ABSTRACT  

Toll-like receptor 4 polymorphisms and idiopathic chromosomally normal miscarriage
Hirschfeld et al.
Hum Reprod 2007;22:440-443.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Toll-like receptor 4 gene polymorphisms and myocardial infarction: no association in a Caucasian population
Koch et al.
Eur Heart J 2006;27:2524-2529.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Role of the pyrin M694V (A2080G) allele in acute myocardial infarction and longevity: a study in the Sicilian population
Grimaldi et al.
J. Leukoc. Biol. 2006;79:611-615.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT