Healthy centenarians represent the best example of successful ageing. Various studies
have shown that centenarians have escaped the major age-associated diseases, they have
several well-conserved immune parameters and at least one gene allele has been identified
and linked with their increased longevity. During ageing there is an accumulation of oxidised
proteins, a phenomenon that has been related to an impaired function of the 20S
proteasome in aged cells. We have, therefore, analysed the expression and the proteolytic …