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et al. 2010; Walter et al. 2011). This highlights the need of a large sample size to detect those longevity variants. It is also possible to perform meta-analyses for identification of candidate genes with modest influence. Compared to the effects of genetic compo- nents, environmental factors appear to be one of the major determinants of human longevity. Taken together, the number of novel genetic findings con- tributing to human longevity is limited and the loci that explain most of the differences in life expectan- cies have not been identified yet (Deelen et al. 2013). Alternative approaches such as the investigation of structural variation, gene–gene interactions or epige- netic mechanisms (e.g. miRNA, methylation patterns) are likely to improve our understanding of the interplay of the various genetic and environmental factors that influence human longevity (Bell et al. 2012; Christensen et al. 2006; Collino et al. 2013; ElSharawy et al. 2012; Gentilini et al. 2012; Glessner et al. 2013; Heyn et al. 2012; Kuningas et al. 2011; Sebastiani et al. 2011; Tan et al. 2002).

Acknowledgments This study was funded by the DFG Excellence Cluster ‘Inflammation at Interfaces’, the INTERREG 4 A programme Syddanmark-Schleswig-K.E.R.N (with EU funds from the European Regional Development Fund) and the RESOLVE project (FP7-HEALTH-F4-2008-202047).

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