A High Level Sketch of the State of Aging and its Treatment
At this point it seems an impossible task to write a review paper covering what is known of aging and avenues to treat aging as a medical condition. The only way forward is to do what the authors did here, which is to leave out nearly everything. Just focus on the high points, the areas of greatest study, to sketch an outline of a field in which, I would say, all of the truly transformative work is taking place in smaller programs, beneath the radar, less widely discussed, but poised to reshape the field of medicine.
The physiological characteristics of aging summarised in this article gradually accumulate over time and contribute to the aging process. Notably, antagonism of an organism's response to the characteristics of aging also plays a subtle role in the aging process. When the cumulative damage caused by primary and antagonistic markers is no longer compensated for by the complex markers of aging, it means that the rate of aging is accelerated. Furthermore, senescence also relies on the integration of cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous mechanisms, and mechanisms that promote senescence can be transmitted between different types of organs and cells.
In conclusion, aging is a gradual and complex process of decline in physiological function, and experiments in animal models have shown that certain interventions may not only extend lifespan, but also increase healthy longevity. However, in vitro models, tissue culture studies, and in vivo animal models, which are ultimately translated into human studies, are complex and diverse, and only a few models can be used to investigate these differences. There are also significant differences between physiological and pathological aging, and the scientific problem of slowing down aging and extending the healthy lifespan of humans involves a number of challenges, including inadequate regulation, barriers to clinical validation, failure to identify more biomarkers of human aging, and the unknown challenges of introducing new interventions to the market.
It is gratifying that years of basic research in the anti-aging field have laid the foundation for explosive biotechnology and industrial applications. Using modern biological techniques, including genetic manipulation or cell-based therapies with broad implementation prospects, to focus on the discovery of physiological mechanisms and interventions underlying the aging process will greatly advance anti-aging research, delay human aging to the maximum extent, maintain human physiological functions in later years, and mitigate the surge in age-related chronic diseases.