Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Dec;1386(1):30-44.
doi: 10.1111/nyas.13297. Epub 2016 Dec 1.

Reverse geroscience: how does exposure to early diseases accelerate the age-related decline in health?

Ronald A Kohanski  1 , Steven G Deeks  2 , Claudia Gravekamp  3 , Jeffrey B Halter  4 , Kevin High  5 , Arti Hurria  6 , Rebecca Fuldner  1 , Paige Green  7 , Robin Huebner  8 , Francesca Macchiarini  1 , Felipe Sierra  1
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Reverse geroscience: how does exposure to early diseases accelerate the age-related decline in health?

Ronald A Kohanski et al. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2016 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Aging is the major risk factor for both the development of chronic diseases and loss of functional capacity. Geroscience provides links among the biology of aging, the biology of disease, and the physiology of frailty, three fields where enormous progress has been made in the last few decades. While, previously, the focus was on the role of aging in susceptibility to disease and disability, the other side of this relationship, which is the contribution of disease to aging, has been less explored at the molecular/cellular level. Indeed, the role of childhood or early adulthood exposure to chronic disease and/or treatment on accelerating aging phenotypes is well known in epidemiology, but the biological basis is poorly understood. A recent summit co-organized by the National Institutes of Health GeroScience Interest Group and the New York Academy of Sciences explored these relationships, using three chronic diseases as examples: cancer, HIV/AIDS, and diabetes. The epidemiological literature clearly indicates that early exposure to any of these diseases and/or their treatments results in an acceleration of the appearance of aging phenotypes, including loss of functional capacity and accelerated appearance of clinical symptoms of aging-related diseases not obviously related to the earlier event. The discussions at the summit focused on the molecular and cellular relationships between each of these diseases and the recently defined molecular and cellular pillars of aging. Two major conclusions from the meeting include the desire to refine an operational definition of aging and to concomitantly develop biomarkers of aging, in order to move from chronological to physiological age. The discussion also opened a dialogue on the possibility of improving late-life outcomes in patients affected by chronic disease by including age-delaying modalities along with the standard care for the disease in question.

Keywords: AIDS; HIV; aging; cancer; diabetes; geroscience.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

  • Periodontitis and Accelerated Biological Aging: A Geroscience Approach.
    Baima G, Romandini M, Citterio F, Romano F, Aimetti M. Baima G, et al. J Dent Res. 2022 Feb;101(2):125-132. doi: 10.1177/00220345211037977. Epub 2021 Oct 5. J Dent Res. 2022. PMID: 34609209
  • Moving geroscience from the bench to clinical care and health policy.
    Sierra F, Caspi A, Fortinsky RH, Haynes L, Lithgow GJ, Moffitt TE, Olshansky SJ, Perry D, Verdin E, Kuchel GA. Sierra F, et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021 Sep;69(9):2455-2463. doi: 10.1111/jgs.17301. Epub 2021 Jun 19. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021. PMID: 34145908 Free PMC article.
  • Geroscience and the trans-NIH Geroscience Interest Group, GSIG.
    Sierra F, Kohanski R. Sierra F, et al. Geroscience. 2017 Feb;39(1):1-5. doi: 10.1007/s11357-016-9954-6. Geroscience. 2017. PMID: 28299635 Free PMC article.
  • Disease drivers of aging.
    Hodes RJ, Sierra F, Austad SN, Epel E, Neigh GN, Erlandson KM, Schafer MJ, LeBrasseur NK, Wiley C, Campisi J, Sehl ME, Scalia R, Eguchi S, Kasinath BS, Halter JB, Cohen HJ, Demark-Wahnefried W, Ahles TA, Barzilai N, Hurria A, Hunt PW. Hodes RJ, et al. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2016 Dec;1386(1):45-68. doi: 10.1111/nyas.13299. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2016. PMID: 27943360 Free PMC article. Review.
  • Aging and age-related diseases--from endocrine therapy to target therapy.
    Bao Q, Pan J, Qi H, Wang L, Qian H, Jiang F, Shao Z, Xu F, Tao Z, Ma Q, Nelson P, Hu X. Bao Q, et al. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2014 Aug 25;394(1-2):115-8. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2014.07.005. Epub 2014 Jul 16. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2014. PMID: 25038521 Review.
See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms

Substances

-