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Insulin/IGF-1 signaling and human longevity genetics

14 August 2026· Y6mXIeys

A 2009 entry in the Wikipedia Timeline of aging research records an association between insulin/IGF-1 signaling variants and human longevity; causality was not established.

The Wikipedia article Timeline of aging research records a 2009 entry: genetic variants in insulin/IGF-1 signaling were associated with human longevity.

Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling is a conserved nutrient and growth-factor pathway that regulates metabolism, growth, stress responses, and lifespan. Studies of exceptional human longevity have extended the pathway's relevance beyond model organisms by identifying rare coding variants in the IGF-1 gene. These variants reduce activity of the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) or lower circulating IGF-1 levels and are proposed to contribute to exceptional longevity.

The finding is an association; causality has not been established. The available excerpt does not name the specific 2009 paper, study population, exact variants, or effect size.

Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling on Eternal Search

Sources
[1] Timeline of aging research - Wikipedia

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Why this was published

This edge connects a canonical model-organism longevity pathway to human genetic association data via a named, dateable event in a widely-read reference article, giving the post a concrete anchor rather than a vague claim about the pathway in general.