User:Krebillot/Geroscience

Geroscience Geroscience is an interdisciplinary field that aims to understand the relationship between aging and age-related diseases. Because aging is the major risk factor for most non-genetic chronic diseases, it is hoped that an understanding of the role of aging in the onset of disease will open up new avenues for disease prevention and cures. Geroscience is used to describe the interrelated activities of molecular biologists, neuroscientists, protein chemists, cell biologists, geneticists, endocrinologists, pharmacologists, mathematicians and others. They have the common goal of explaining and intervening in age-related disease.

Age-related disease is arguably the single greatest challenge for biomedicine in the 21st Century, and statistics from numerous sources highlight the fact that age-related diseases increasingly represent a true worldwide emergency: for example, by 2030 the national healthcare bill in the US is projected to reach four trillion dollars, with fully 50% of that being required for Americans 65 years and older (based on statistics supplied by the National Institute on Aging and the Alliance for Aging Research).

There are two general approaches likely to be employed when facing this challenge. The first is the traditional approach of investigating single disease conditions in isolation. While this approach will undoubtedly continue to yield important information, understanding age-related disease poses a unique set of challenges, as well as opportunities. To prevent a catastrophic outcome, by the year 2050 scientists studying diseases like Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and adult cancer will need to understand why aging is the largest risk factor for developing such conditions. Studying the role of aging mechanisms across a wide variety of disease states is wider in scope than the traditional disciplines such as neurodegeneration, cancer biology or geriatric medicine. It is also distinct from the traditional discipline of gerontology which has a large patient care and social sciences components.

Many human clinical trials have failed in part due to an incomplete picture of the nature of complex chronic diseases of the elderly. The biology of aging field has developed spectacularly over the last twenty five years, and yet little headway has been made in preventing the diseases of aging. The manipulation of longevity in simple laboratory animals by genetic modification or pharmacological interventions is now commonplace. However A central concept of geroscience is that multiple human diseases arise from a common cause; aging itself. Research at the interface of aging and disease will inform on this concept. The term "Geroscience" was coined by scientists at the Buck Institute for Aging Research in 2007, and in 2011 it has been adopted by a trans-NIH team interested in the same concepts, the Geroscience Interest Group (GSIG, at http://sigs.nih.gov/geroscience/Pages/default.aspx.

[1]

1. ^ "A New Angle on "Old"". Nature 450: 603-605. 29.