Journal Article

Skewed X inactivation and survival: a 13-year follow-up study of elderly twins and singletons

Mengel-From, J., Thinggaard, M., Christiansen, L., Vaupel, J. W., Ørstavik, K. H., Christensen, K.
European Journal of Human Genetics, 20:3, 361–364 (2012)

Abstract

In mammalian females, one of the two X chromosomes is inactivated in early embryonic life. Females are therefore mosaics for two cell populations, one with the maternal and one with the paternal X as the active X chromosome. A skewed X inactivation is a marked deviation from a 50:50 ratio. In populations of women past 55–60 years of age, an increased degree of skewing (DS) is found. Here the association between age-related skewing and mortality is analyzed in a 13-year follow-up study of 500 women from three cohorts (73–100 years of age at intake). Women with low DS had significantly higher mortality than the majority of women who had a more skewed DS (hazard ratio: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.04–1.64). The association between X inactivation and mortality was replicated in dizygotic twin pairs for which the co-twin with the lowest DS also had a statistically significant tendency to die first in the twin pairs with the highest intra-pair differences in DS (proportion: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.52–0.86). Both results suggest that lower DS is associated with higher mortality. We therefore propose that age-related skewing may be partly due to a population selection with lower mortality among those with higher DS.
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.