«Pendant des siècles, la Médecine s’est préoccupée de soigner. Aujourd’hui elle s'est donnée comme but de prévenir plutôt que de guérir.»
Pr Jean Dausset, Prix Nobel de Médecine, 1980
La Fondation Jean Dausset - Centre d’Etude du Polymorphisme Humain participe aux efforts nationaux et internationaux de recherche pour mieux déterminer le rôle du polymorphisme génétique chez l’Homme, tout particulièrement dans les maladies complexes, pour mieux les comprendre, les diagnostiquer et participer au développement d’une médecine personnalisée.

The MITOCHONGEVITY project



Association of germline variants, somatic mutations and DNA methylation of the mitochondrial genome to human longevity.


One of the greatest societal, economic and public health challenges in Europe in the near future concerns the aging of its population. The implication of mitochondria has been studied in longevity due the role of these maternally inherited organelles in metabolic senescence mechanisms through oxidative phosphorylation and cell metabolism. Somatic mutations where shown to occur in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) at a high rate and the coexistence of mutated and wild-type form a mosaicism (heteroplasmy) that increases over the lifespan. There is also evidence of variations of mtDNA methylation between healthy and affected individuals in different pathologies such as cardiovascular, liver and cancer diseases.

The overall goal of the project is to analyze the heteroplasmies and DNA methylation of the mitochondrial genome of French nonagenarians, centenarians and supercentenarians of the CEPH Aging cohort and their offspring. The project aims to identify the genetic and epigenetic variations of mtDNA associated with and potentially responsible for the human longevity as well as their transgenerational inheritance.

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