Division of Aging Biology, National Institute on Aging, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Geroscience. 2017 Feb;39(1):1-5. doi: 10.1007/s11357-016-9954-6.
Age is by far the major risk factor for most chronic diseases. This has been common knowledge since time immemorial. Aging encompasses the biological changes most often seen as declines of function and increasing burden of disease. The close linkage of these two has led people to believe that aging, like age, is immutable. It is only recently that research into the basic molecular and cellular mechanisms of aging has led to potential interventions that increase lifespan and appear to increase healthspan, as well. Geroscience is an interdisciplinary field that aims to understand the relationship between the biology of aging and the biology of age-related diseases. The "geroscience hypothesis" posits that manipulation of aging will delay (in parallel) the appearance or severity of many chronic diseases because these diseases share the same underlying major risk factor (age). The hope is that this will lead to health improvements in the older population with perhaps greater efficiency than can be achieved through the successful cure and management of diseases of aging as they arise individually or as comorbidities.With those concepts in mind, the Geroscience Interest Group (GSIG) was launched as a trans-institute interest group within the NIH in November 2012. Here, we discuss the genesis of the trans-NIH group and the most salient activities that have occurred in the last 5 years.
年龄是大多数慢性疾病的主要危险因素。自古以来，这一直是常识。衰老包括功能下降和疾病负担增加等常见的生物学变化。这两者的紧密联系导致人们认为衰老和年龄一样是不可改变的。直到最近，对衰老的基本分子和细胞机制的研究才导致了潜在的干预措施，这些干预措施不仅延长了寿命，而且似乎还延长了健康寿命。衰老科学是一个跨学科领域，旨在了解衰老生物学与与年龄相关疾病生物学之间的关系。“衰老科学假说”假设，对衰老的干预将（平行地）延迟许多慢性疾病的出现或严重程度，因为这些疾病具有相同的潜在主要危险因素（年龄）。人们希望这将导致老年人群的健康状况得到改善，其效率可能比通过成功治愈和管理随着年龄增长而单独出现或作为合并症出现的衰老疾病更高。基于这些概念，衰老科学兴趣小组（GSIG）于 2012 年 11 月作为 NIH 内部的跨机构兴趣小组成立。在这里，我们讨论了跨 NIH 小组的起源以及过去 5 年中发生的最显著的活动。
