Title:Stem Cell Aging and Age-Related Cardiovascular Disease: Perspectives of Treatment by Ex-vivo Stem Cell Rejuvenation
Volume: 16
Issue: 8
Author(s): Rosalinda Madonna, Felix B. Engel, Sean M. Davidson, Peter Ferdinandy, Aniko Gorbe, Joost P.G. Sluijter and Linda W. Van Laake
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Aging, diabetes, gene therapy, hippo, hyperlipidemia, myocardin, Notch, Pim-1, YAP, stem cell, rejuvenation, telomerase.
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 agingrelated
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.
