Abstract
In this chapter, we will discuss aging as the progressive decline in the function of cells, tissues and organs that leads to impaired functions of our body. Accordingly, older age is the primary risk factor for non-communicative diseases, such as cancer. Common hallmarks of aging are cellular senescence, genome instability, epigenetic alterations and telomere attrition. Interestingly, epigenetic signatures can serve as biomarkers of aging, since the process is associated with specific chromatin patterns and chromatin modifiers that are able to modulate both life- and healthspan. The shortening of telomeres has on one hand a tumor-suppressive effect, since it induces cell cycle arrest, but on the other hand it can also lead to extensive genome instability that promotes cancer progression.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Additional Reading
Gorgoulis, V., Adams, P. D., Alimonti, A., Bennett, D. C., Bischof, O., Bishop, C., Campisi, J., Collado, M., Evangelou, K., Ferbeyre, G., et al. (2019). Cellular senescence: Defining a path forward. Cell, 179, 813–827.
He, S., & Sharpless, N. E. (2017). Senescence in health and disease. Cell, 169, 1000–1011.
Jaiswal, S., & Ebert, B. L. (2019). Clonal hematopoiesis in human aging and disease. Science, 366, aan4673.
Khosla, S., Farr, J. N., Tchkonia, T., & Kirkland, J. L. (2020). The role of cellular senescence in ageing and endocrine disease. Nature Reviews. Endocrinology, 16, 263–275.
Lopez-Otin, C., Blasco, M. A., Partridge, L., Serrano, M., & Kroemer, G. (2013). The hallmarks of aging. Cell, 153, 1194–1217.
Maciejowski, J., & de Lange, T. (2017). Telomeres in cancer: Tumor suppression and genome instability. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 18, 175–186.
Rossiello, F., Jurk, D., Passos, J. F., & d’Adda di Fagagna, F. (2022). Telomere dysfunction in ageing and age-related diseases. Nature Cell Biology, 24, 135–147.
Schumacher, B., Pothof, J., Vijg, J., & Hoeijmakers, J. H. J. (2021). The central role of DNA damage in the ageing process. Nature, 592, 695–703.
Shay, J. W., & Wright, W. E. (2019). Telomeres and telomerase: Three decades of progress. Nature Reviews Genetics, 20, 299–309.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Carlberg, C., Velleuer, E., Molnár, F. (2023). Aging and Cancer. In: Molecular Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27133-5_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27133-5_30
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-27132-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-27133-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)