data regarding plasma levels of adiponectin and leptin, however, the functional relevance of the studied polymorphisms is well documented [11,12,29,30,33]. In addition, several other poly- morphisms in the examined genes (rs17300539 and þ2019A/7) were not investigated in this study. Examining plasma levels of adiponectin and leptin in subjects in addition to genotyping of other SNPs in examined loci and their relation with longevity in Jordanian population will be a matter of future studies.

variable in the genetics of longevity in different populations. For instance, Tyrosine Hydroxylase gene, TNF-a, and mtDNA haplogroup are asso- ciated with longevity in men [22,34,35] while haemochromatosis, IL2 and interferon-gamma gene polymorphisms are associated with longevity in women [25,36,37]. Recently, Atzmon et al. [17] demonstrated that two SNPs, rs17300539 and þ2019A/7 in ADIPOQ gene are associated with longevity in men of the Ashkenazi Jewish population. The finding that rs1501299 ADIPOQ SNP and rs7799039 LEP gene promoter SNP are associated with men’s longevity but not in women in Jordanian population supports the hypothesis of gender differ- ences in the pathway to human longevity. Gender

In conclusion, results of this study indicate that rs1501299 ADIPOQ SNP and rs7799039 LEP gene promoter SNP play a gender-specific role in human longevity.

Acknowledgements

This work has been done with funds from the Deanship of Scientific Research in Jordan University of Science and Technology, grant number 182/2007 and 207/2007 to O. K. The authors thank Mr. Jameel

M. Bernawi and Mr. Essa S. Abdelhalim for their help with recruitments of subjects.

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