Systemic Delivery in Anti-aging Medicine: An Overview
Extension of longevity is no longer a science fiction and has been in progress of becoming scientifically achievable. The focus of current anti-aging strategies has shifted from geriatrics that is cost-effective but palliative to biogerontology that is fu
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Systemic Delivery in Anti-aging Medicine: An Overview Yi Wang and Wing-Fu Lai
Abstract Extension of longevity is no longer a science fiction and has been in progress of becoming scientifically achievable. The focus of current anti-aging strategies has shifted from geriatrics that is cost-effective but palliative to biogerontology that is fundamentally at the molecular level. Basic gerontological research has suggested that biological aging is closely associated with genetic/genomic factors, which has led to the development of gene therapies such as RNA-interference technology. This resulted in a subsequent need for developing reliable drug delivery systems. Numerous advanced systemic drug delivery systems have hitherto been developed but a number of challenges need to be conquered in order to make the systems practical, such as safety and effectiveness issues. For this reason, a considerable number of biogerontological intervention technologies have been taken to clinical trials but with limited success. As the first chapter of this book, this chapter will illustrate the role and limitations of technologies for systemic delivery in anti-aging medicine. Keywords Anti-aging · Biogerontology · Drug delivery · Nanoparticles · RNA interference
1.1 Introduction Prolongation of longevity has been a history-long desire of mankind since ancient time. Ancient Chinese emperors and European alchemists had been chasing after Y. Wang (B) School of Dentistry, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia e-mail: [email protected] W.-F. Lai School of Life and Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Shenzhen 518172, China Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong S.A.R., China © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 W.-F. Lai (ed.), Systemic Delivery Technologies in Anti-Aging Medicine: Methods and Applications, Healthy Ageing and Longevity 13, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54490-4_1
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Y. Wang and W.-F. Lai
extension of longevity and even immortality (Lai 2013). In general cognition, however, lifespan is an impregnable natural trait and any attempts on intervention or reversion are doomed to fail. While scientists have shown enormous dedication and enthusiasm in the intervention of this natural process, and numerous encouraging progresses have been achieved (Lai 2011, 2013 ; Pazoki Toroudi et al. 2016), a practical approach to “stop the clock” is beyond reach, thus far. On the other hand, attributed to better living conditions and effective geriatric care, human lifespan was considerably extended over the last two centuries. The average life expectancy of babies bone in the twenty-first century was projected to be over a hundred years in countries such as Japan, Canada, France, etc. reported by Christensen et al. (2009). Biological aging is often accompanied by an increasing range of age-related diseases (Guo et al. 2020). It is a time-dependent degenerative process of cells, tissues and organs, resulting in impairment of their
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