title: Stem Cell Aging and Age-Related Cardiovascular Disease: Perspectives of Treatment by Ex-vivo Stem Cell Rejuvenation.
abstract: Aging affects endogenous stem cells in terms of functionality and numbers. In particular, during aging, the stemness property can decrease because of enhanced apoptotic cell death and senescence. In addition, aging and aging-related co-morbidities affect the paracrine activity of stem cells and the efficiency of their transplantation. Collectively, this leads to a reduction of the capacity of organs to repair themselves, possibly due to a reduced functional capability of stem cells. Therefore, major efforts have been invested to improve the repair capability of stem cells in aged individuals by overexpressing antisenescence and antiapoptotic genes. In this review, we describe critical genes and signaling pathways in stem cell aging and discuss ex vivo genetic modification approaches aimed at stem cell rejuvenation that are of interest for the cardiovascular system.
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence on Aging, "G. d'Annunzio" University, Via Paolicchi, 66100 Chieti, Italy. rmadonna@unich.it.
authors.forename: Rosalinda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madonna
authors.forename: Felix B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.forename: Sean M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferdinandy
authors.forename: Aniko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gorbe
authors.forename: Joost P G
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Sluijter
authors.forename: Linda W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Van Laake
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D006801:Humans; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000379:methods; D012060:Rejuvenation / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*