Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA; Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, Mexico.
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health .
Med Lav. 2021 Feb 23;112(1):8-14. doi: 10.23749/mdl.v112i1.10826.
Aging is characterized by a gradual and progressive decline in system integrity that occurs with advancing chronological age. Although it is a physiological process, aging is associated with a myriad of age-related diseases (ARDs), including frailty, sarcopenia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. While not exclusively ARDs, many of these diseases lead to death, a lesser quality of life, and increased healthcare costs for individuals and systems. ARDs share several underlying molecular mechanisms, such as cellular damage, inflammation, DNA methylation changes, stem cells exhaustion, and DNA mutations, which have been outlined as hallmarks of aging. Evidence suggests that environmental exposures, including but not limited to metals, air pollution, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and noise, may accelerate biological aging. Over the past few years, aging research has identified new molecular biomarkers of the aging process. When applied to investigate environmental influences, these biomarkers can help identify individuals who are particularly susceptible to the influences of environmental exposures on aging processes and therefore guide in implementing possible preventive measures.
衰老是指随着年龄的增长，系统完整性逐渐和逐渐下降的特征。尽管衰老是一种生理过程，但它与许多与年龄相关的疾病（ARDs）有关，包括虚弱、肌肉减少症、慢性阻塞性肺疾病、心血管疾病、癌症和神经退行性疾病。虽然这些疾病并不完全是 ARDs，但其中许多疾病会导致死亡、生活质量下降，并增加个人和系统的医疗保健成本。ARDs 有几个共同的潜在分子机制，如细胞损伤、炎症、DNA 甲基化变化、干细胞衰竭和 DNA 突变，这些都被概述为衰老的标志。有证据表明，环境暴露，包括但不限于金属、空气污染、内分泌干扰化学物质和噪音，可能会加速生物衰老。在过去的几年中，衰老研究已经确定了衰老过程的新分子生物标志物。当将这些生物标志物应用于研究环境影响时，它们可以帮助识别特别容易受到环境暴露对衰老过程影响的个体，从而指导实施可能的预防措施。
