Moreover, it has been suggested that the female sex hormone estrogen may increase the expression of antioxidant enzymes, playing a protective role that improves host resistance to degener- ative diseases, and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) by modulation of fibrinolytic factors [15]. Therefore, women have a greater capacity to recover from an inflammatory status, probably due to better regulation of the inflammatory response, which, as our data points out, can be enabled by the genetic

Appendix A. Supplementary data

component. The better control of inflammation in elderly women might be linked to the higher life expectancy.

We acknowledge that our study have a number of potential limitations. The relatively small number of subjects in the elderly cohort, due to the difficulty to find older subjects fitting our inclu- sion criteria, could be considered as an important limitation of the study. Some statistical outcomes are based in comparisons performed with small numbers or zero subjects that do not pass statistical threshold when corrected for multiple testing. Despite having used appropriated statistical methods (i.e. Peto odds ratio and Bonferroni-corrected SNP spectral decomposition approach) revealing significant results, the mentioned limitations require us to consider conclusions as suggestive rather than a clear finding.

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in online version, at doi:10.1016/j.cyto.2011.12.021.

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The role of sex differences in age trajectories is still unresolved. Our data shows that the RANTES genetic component differs be- tween males and females and could contribute to their differences in aging trajectories. The appropriate regulation of the inflamma- tory response by a proper balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines could be an important factor in reaching extreme longevity. Assuming all the limitations previously mentioned our results encourage further studies to replicate our findings and to search for additional inflammation-related genes that could define an inflammation-related genetic component contributing to sex differences in longevity.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no proprietary, financial, professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or in the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated in this manuscript.

Acknowledgements

M.L. was recipient of a fellowship from the University of Lleida. This work was supported by grants to the University of Lleida (J.F., principal investigator) from Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS, PI051778) and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CGL 2007- 62875). The authors thank Elaine Lilly, Ph.D. (Writer’s First Aid), for English language revision of the manuscript. The authors also thank the elderly participants and their families, who made this study possible.