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Soee Park
2023년 10월 21일3분 분량

Aging and dementia: How does science intervene with their nature?

Author: Soee Park





One of the newest global issues that has come to influence our families and neighbors in this 21th century, is the aging society. For the healthcare services to develop and more proportion of people are guaranteed with a longer life expectancy, aging became part of our human nature. Accordingly and sadly, elder abuse and ageism expanded in our society, being experienced by 1 in 6 people aged above 60 globally (1a). Societal infrastructure and government policies that support the older populations are lagging, despite such a rapid growth in the aging population. People are exposed to the elder abuse -- the physcial abuse, psychological abuse, finanncial abuse, sexual abuse, or 'neglect' -- without mercy. However, do the scientists even know if aging is a disease or a natural process (1b)? We are nonetheless all experiencing the consequences rooted in society. This article attempts to review the current understanding of aging and age-related diseases, dementia in particular, on the purpose of the potential direction of scientific research.

One approach to understanding the process of aging, takes 'cellular senescence' into account. The mechanism of cellular senescence has different features depending on its cell types, and can be explored by the scientists by developing new markers and experimental models of the damaged, senescent cells (SNCs). In short, cellular senescence is a homeostatic process that occurs to stop the cell cycles of damaged body cells. Unlike apoptosis, SNCs continue to release chemicals that cause inflammation, even after quitting its propagation (2ai, ii, iii). The SNCs can be removed by T-cells, macrophages and lymphocytes via the natural process. However, they grow recognizably in number as humans age. They accumulate and, due to an aging immune system, such was linked to the occurrence of many age-related diseases. Researchers have been working on therapeutic approaches (aka. senotherapeutics) that target SNCs and their chemicals for healthy longevity of older populations.

With nearly 10 million new cases each year, 55 million people live with dementia globally (3a). Dementia is a class of diseases: it is a syndrome "characterized by impairment of cognitive functions"(3b). No one disease can be, or should be, simply defined by a single medical symptom. Medically, dementia such as Alzheimer's disease leads to the impairment in memory and judgment along with symptoms like irritation and agitation. Perhaps what holds similar significance is the fact that it places emotional and economic burden on the families that look after their elderlies. Thereafter, the disease also is concerningly associated with the societal stigma and lack of support for healthcare infrastructure that take care of dementia patients. Although 6-70% of dementias are categorized as Alzheimer's disease, there are no known drugs that targetedly treat the disease; only options are to improve certain symptoms (3b, c). The widely supported hypothesis predicted the accumulation of peptide amyloid-β proteins in the brain to be responsible for Alzheimer's disease. However, researchers question if the ongoing research based on this hypothesis is entirely misguided, following continuous failures in the clinical trials of drugs that prevent the formation of amyloid-β and also the suspected fabrication of the paper that first confirmed the association of the protein with Alzheimer's.

By 2050, the population aged 60 or above is projected to take 22% of the global population, almost doubling since 2015 (4a). It is time for the health science research to take a slight shift towards age-related diseases. What we desire must not simply be a longer life which is being achieved with the modern understanding of common diseases; We must now desire a healthier longer life, with a continuously high quality of life guaranteed.




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