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The lack of statistically significant results in our data is probably due to the small size of the LOAD and control groups analyzed (708 subjects) compared to previous GWA and case control studies (over 70,000 subjects). Notably, based on the published data, the required sample needed to reach a statistical signi- ficance should be around 1370 cases and controls, with an OR = 0.8, confirming the inability with smaller groups to reach the statistical significance of the previ- ous GWA studies. However, part of our LOAD samples have been included in the first European GWA Study [3], for the analyses of rs541458 in the PICALM gene, indicating that our cases are a valid representative pathological group. Our data is nevertheless an impor- tant contribution to longevity implicating for the first time ultracentenarians (>54%), and not only oldest old

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Thus, we can speculate that our centenarian group is representativeoflongevitymorethanoldestold[13].In fact, the protective implication of the analyzed SNP in the centenarians (being that the frequency of the pro- tective allele is 47.2%), confirming the reliability of evidence indicating the protective role of PICALM in longevity. However, given the small sample size of that group, further studies are needed to confirm this asso- ciation. Interestingly, stratification by gender showed that this association was stronger in females, but we could not exclude that this data may represent a false-

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