Therapeutic Antiaging Strategies

Aging constitutes progressive physiological changes in an organism. These changes alter the normal biological functions, such as the ability to manage metabolic stress, and eventually lead to cellular senescence(definition). The process itself is characterized by nine hallmarks: genomic instability, telomere(definition) attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis(definition), deregulated nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction(definition), cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication. These hallmarks are risk factors for pathologies, such as cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer. Emerging evidence has been focused on examining the genetic pathways and biological processes in organisms surrounding these nine hallmarks. From here, the therapeutic approaches can be addressed in hopes of slowing the progression of aging. In this review, data have been collected on the hallmarks and their relative contributions to aging and supplemented with in vitro and in vivo antiaging research experiments. It is the intention of this article to highlight the most important antiaging strategies that researchers have proposed, including preventive measures, systemic therapeutic agents, and invasive procedures, that will promote healthy aging and increase human life expectancy with decreased side effects.