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full screen Biology professor Valter Longo (right at the back) and doctor Jaime Guevara-Aguirre (left at the back) together with people involved in the studies on the unusual genetic hormone disease Laron syndrome. Nathaly Paola Castro Torres stands in front of Professor Longo. Photo: Valter Longo
They are short.
But can sit on the solution for longer life.
People with the extremely rare syndrome have resistance to cancer and diabetes.
New research shows that they also avoid heart disease.
Approximately 350 people worldwide have the genetic hormone disorder Laron syndrome.
A third of them live in Ecuador.
Those affected become short, rarely much taller than 120 centimeters, due to resistance to the growth hormone produced in the brain and a reduced ability to produce the growth factor IGF-1.
Carry a super power
Despite their short stature, people with the syndrome live on average as long as people of normal stature.
They carry a superpower that scientists have studied for many years to understand.
The same mutation in the gene for the growth hormone receptor that leads to the short stature has also given the people resistance to cancer and diabetes.
Studies have also shown that their brains are twenty years younger than those of other people at the same age.
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full screen Professor Valter Longo with some of the people in the studies. Photo: Valter Longo
Barely affected by cancer and diabetes
– We have seen in studies that people with Laron syndrome have a very low frequency of cancer, diabetes and cognitive impairment, says biology professor Valter Longo, who leads a study on the syndrome, to CNN.
– I still haven’t come across a case of Alzheimer’s in this population.
One of the people living with the syndrome is Nathaly Paola Castro Torres, 42, who is 127 centimeters tall.
She works in a restaurant in Los Angeles and is forced to deal with the downsides of the hormonal disease on a daily basis.
– People stare at me too much and comment or joke. Often they take pictures of me and I don’t like that. It makes me feel bad, says Torres to CNN.
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full screen The people in the study are also resistant to heart disease. Photo: Getty/Genre
Don’t get heart disease
– I am also lucky because my body protects me from a large number of diseases that affect people every day. The length is both a difficulty and a blessing.
Valter Longo believes that those who deal with Torres should think twice.
– I wonder what they would say if they knew that she lives in a body that could one day provide information on how we can live longer, disease-free lives, he says to CNN.
Longo and his colleagues this week publish a new study showing that people with Laron syndrome also appear to have strong protection against heart disease.
The syndrome often leads to obesity and many of the people Longo follows “never exercise, drink and smoke often and live in vulnerable areas without access to good healthcare”.
Despite that, it is extremely rare that they suffer from or die from cardiovascular diseases.
Hoping for a medical breakthrough
Longo and his colleagues hope to use their research to develop medications that lower the levels of IGF-1 circulating in the blood.
– The idea is that people who have high circulating levels of IGF-1 should be able to be medicated back to the range associated with the lowest mortality. Much like taking medicine for high cholesterol, says Valter Longo to CNN.
Nathaly Paola Castro Torres recently had a medical examination. She is technically overweight with just over 45 kilos distributed over her 127 centimeters.
But according to the doctor, she is completely healthy.
Torres is proud of his role in research.
– The hope is to be able to develop medical help for the rest of the population who struggle with diabetes and cancer, two of the most catastrophic diseases. That is my hope, she says to CNN.