The Four Layers of Aging

Ran Zhang; Hou-Zao Chen; De-Pei Liu

doi:10.1016/j.cels.2015.09.002

The Four Layers of Aging

Cell Syst. 2015 Sep 23;1(3):180-6. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2015.09.002. Epub 2015 Sep 23.

Authors

Ran Zhang¹, Hou-Zao Chen², De-Pei Liu³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, P.R. China.
² State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, P.R. China. Electronic address: chenhouzao@ibms.cams.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, P.R. China. Electronic address: liudp@pumc.edu.cn.

PMID: 27135911
DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2015.09.002

Abstract

Instead of considering aging in terms of discrete hallmarks, we suggest that it operates in four layers, each at a different biological scale. Malfunctions within each layer-and connections between them-produce the aged phenotype and its associated susceptibility to disease.

Keywords: Aging; adaptive response; age-related diseases; dietary/caloric restriction; evolutionary fitness.

Publication types

Review