Epigenetics of Aging and Aging-related Disease

Aging is associated with a wide range of human disorders, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. Long thought to be an inexorable road toward decline and diseases, aging is in fact remarkably plastic. Such plasticity could be harnessed to approach age-related dis...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2014-06, Vol.69 (Suppl_1), p.S17-S20
Main Authors: Brunet, Anne, Berger, Shelley L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Aging - genetics
Chronic Disease
DNA - genetics
DNA Damage
Epigenetics
Epigenomics - methods
Gene expression
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
Genomics
Geriatrics
Gerontology
Humans
Supplement Issue: Frontiers in Geroscience
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Aging is associated with a wide range of human disorders, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. Long thought to be an inexorable road toward decline and diseases, aging is in fact remarkably plastic. Such plasticity could be harnessed to approach age-related diseases from a novel perspective. Although many studies have focused on the genes that impact aging, the nongenetic regulation of aging is gaining increasing attention. Specifically, aging is associated with profound epigenetic changes, resulting in alterations of gene expression and disturbances in broad genome architecture and the epigenomic landscape. The potential reversibility of these epigenetic changes that occur as a hallmark of aging offers exciting opportunities to alter the trajectory of age-related diseases. This short review highlights key epigenetic players in the regulation of aging, as well as both future goals and challenges to the utilization of epigenetic strategies to delay and reverse the main diseases of aging.
ISSN:1079-5006
1758-535X
DOI:10.1093/gerona/glu042