Diseases of aging

By definition, diseases of aging become clinically manifested in elderly patients. However, their pathogenetic basis has to be sought earlier in life. The general thread of this presentation relies on the concept of an evolutionary-Darwinian view of the development of age-related diseases. In essenc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vaccine 2000-02, Vol.18 (16), p.1567-1583
Main Authors: Wick, Georg, Jansen-Dürr, Pidder, Berger, Peter, Blasko, Imrich, Grubeck-Loebenstein, Beatrix
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aging
Aging - genetics
Aging - immunology
Aging - physiology
Alzheimer Disease - etiology
Arteriosclerosis - etiology
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Cancer
Cardiovascular system
Development. Metamorphosis. Moult. Ageing
Disease - etiology
Endocrine system
Endocrine System Diseases - etiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes, Tumor Suppressor
Humans
Immune system
Immunity
Infection - etiology
Locomoter system
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Neoplasms - etiology
Nervous system
Osteoporosis - etiology
Prevention and actions
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Specific populations (family, woman, child, elderly...)
Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
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Summary:By definition, diseases of aging become clinically manifested in elderly patients. However, their pathogenetic basis has to be sought earlier in life. The general thread of this presentation relies on the concept of an evolutionary-Darwinian view of the development of age-related diseases. In essence, this concept states that we may have to “pay” for genetic traits that play a beneficial role earlier in life by the later development of diseases since there is no post-reproductive selective pressure that may have eliminated the potential late onset detrimental effects of such genes. Examples for this kind of trade-off are taken from diseases involving the immune system (infections), the endocrine system (andropause), the nervous system (Alzheimer’s disease), the locomoter system (osteoporosis), the cardio-vascular system (atherosclerosis) and cancer.
ISSN:0264-410X
1873-2518
DOI:10.1016/S0264-410X(99)00489-2