Study: Indiana Amish Gene Mutation Shows Longer Life Potential

Northeast Indiana’s Amish population is at the center of research that could help people live longer. Results from a 2015 study that were published late last year in the journal ScienceAdvances suggests those who possess a specific gene mutation, first identified in 1991 by the Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center in an Adams County girl with a rare bleeding disorder, live around a decade longer than normal. They also had lower insulin levels and diabetes rates. IHTC Pediatric Hematologist Sweta Gupta discussed the findings and the timeline for what’s next during an interview with Barbara Lewis on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.

The study was a collaboration that involved Northwestern University and researchers from the IHTC.

"The next steps here are to figure out if we can target the PAI-1 protein to lower it down, so that human beings can lead a healthier and longer life," Gupta told Barbara Lewis in the Business of Health. "Studies are actually ongoing to develop an oral agent in Japan — in Tohoku University — where phase one trials are completed, phase two are almost done, and we are hoping that these clinical trials will take off in the U.S. so that these results can be translated into bigger discoveries." She is hopeful that sometime within the next couple of years or next decade advances will be made through the efforts.

The study involved 177 members of the Berne Amish community, 43 of which carried the mutation.