She had a good social life with friends and family nearby. All surely helped, Esteller said. He hopes the wealth of information will help scientists develop new treatments to keep people healthy in old age.
“We can develop drugs to reproduce the effects of good genes,” he said. “Maria’s parents gave her very good genes, but we cannot choose our parents.”
Prof João Pedro de Magalhães at the University of Birmingham, said: “These outliers in longevity could provide insights into how to age more gracefully. If we could figure out which specific genes are associated with extreme human longevity and healthy old age it could provide clues about mechanisms for ageing as well as drugable targets to develop interventions that allow everyone to live longer, healthier lives.”
