Hallmarks of aging

Aging is characterized by a progressive loss of physiological integrity, leading to impaired function and increased vulnerability to death. The hallmarks of aging are the types of biochemical changes that occur in all organisms that experience biological aging and lead to a progressive loss of physiological integrity, impaired function and, eventually, death. They were first listed in a landmark paper in 2013 to conceptualize the essence of biological aging and its underlying mechanisms. The following three premises for the interconnected hallmarks have been proposed: "their age-associated manifestation" "the acceleration of aging by experimentally accentuating them" "the opportunity to decelerate, stop, or reverse aging by therapeutic interventions on them" Over time, almost all living organisms experience a gradual and irreversible increase in senescence and an associated loss of proper function of the bodily systems. As aging is the primary risk factor for major human diseases, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases, it is important to describe and classify the types of changes that it entails. After a decade, the authors of the heavily cited original paper updated the set of proposed hallmarks in January 2023. In the new paywalled review, three new hallmarks have been added (not included or categorized below): disabled macroautophagy, chronic inflammation and dysbiosis, totaling 12 proposed hallmarks. The nine hallmarks of aging of the original paper are grouped into three categories as below: Primary hallmarks (causes of damage) Genome instability Telomere shortening (or telomere attrition) Epigenetic alterations Loss of proteostasis Antagonistic hallmarks (responses to damage) Deregulated nutrient sensing Mitochondrial dysfunction Cellular senescence Integrative hallmarks (culprits of the phenotype) Stem cell exhaustion Altered intercellular communication Primary hallmarks are the primary causes of cellular damage.

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Life extension

Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled limit of 125 years. Several researchers in the area, along with "life extensionists", "immortalists" or "longevists" (those who wish to achieve longer lives themselves), postulate that future breakthroughs in tissue rejuvenation, stem cells, regenerative medicine, molecular repair, gene therapy, pharmaceuticals, and organ replacement (such as with artificial organs or xenotransplantations) will eventually enable humans to have indefinite lifespans (agerasia) through complete rejuvenation to a healthy youthful condition.

Regulation and impact of TERRA R-loops at human telomeres

Rita Valador Fernandes

Telomeres are the nucleoprotein structures found at the ends of linear chromosomes. They ensure that the termini of chromosomes are not inappropriately recognized as sites of DNA damage, and are therefore crucial for genome stability. In spite of the heter ...

EPFL2023

Gamified Motor Training With Tangible Robots in Older Adults: A Feasibility Study and Comparison With the Young

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Background: An increasing lifespan and the resulting change in our expectations of later life stages are dependent on a good health state. This emphasizes the importance of the development of strategies to further strengthen healthy aging. One important as ...

2020

Brain NAD Is Associated With ATP Energy Production and Membrane Phospholipid Turnover in Humans

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The brain requires a large amount of energy, mostly derived from the metabolism of glucose, which decreases substantially with age and neurological diseases. While mounting evidence in model organisms illustrates the central role of brain nicotinamide aden ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2020

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Explores telomere syndromes, telomerase expression, end replication problems, telomere length during aging, defects in telomerase genes, and mouse models.

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