Alexander Vaiserman was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1957. His research interests comprise epigenetics, epidemiology and experimental gerontology. He earned his MSc Degree in cytology and developmental biology from Kyiv State University in 1984, and his DSc degrees in normal physiology from Institute of Gerontology (Kyiv, Ukraine) in 1991 and 2004, respectively. Since 2010 to present hi is the head of the Laboratory of Epigenetics in the Institute of Gerontology (Kyiv, Ukraine).

Innovative Rejuvenating Strategies in Anti-Aging Medicine: Not so Far Away?

Improving healthspan is the main objective of anti-aging research. Currently, innovative gene and cell therapy-based approaches seem to be among the most promising for preventing and treating age-related chronic pathologies. Gene therapy-based interventions are increasingly being used to target aging phenotypes and aging-related diseases in preclinical studies. In particular, the pro-healthspan potential of the telomerase gene therapy was confirmed in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Over the last years, the potential of the heterochronous autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to rejuvenating the aged immune system began to be explored. In this approach, autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells are collected during the youth of an individual, cryopreserved, and re-infused when he or she has reached an older age to improve the immune function. The efficiency of such approach was confirmed in various animal models where significant life extension was achieved by this treatment modality. Recently, evidence was obtained that the body’s epigenetic clocks, known to track a person’s biological age, may be ‘rejuvenated’ by a cocktail of growth hormone and two antidiabetic drugs, dehydro-epi-androsterone (DHEA) and metformin. Nevertheless, considering the extraordinary complexity of processes involved in ageing and aging-related diseases, the effectiveness of these therapeutic options may be limited by their side-effects. Thus, clinical implementation of such applications is certainly a long-time process that will require many translation phases for addressing challenges. However, after overcoming these issues, their implementation in clinical practice may obviously provide new possibilities in anti-aging medicine.

Nanodelivery of phytobioactive compounds for treating aging-associated disorders

Dietary supplementation with phytobioactive compounds (PBCs) such as resveratrol, quercetin, curcumin and catechin, has been repeatedly reported to have anti-aging potential including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and cardioprotective activities. The therapeutical potential of orally administered PBCs are, however, limited due to their low stability and bioavailability. Recently, innovative nanotechnology-based approaches were developed in order to maintain bioactivity of PBCs following oral administration. The PBC-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) designed for oral administration provide many benefits over the conventional formulations, including increased stability, enhanced solubility, prolonged half-life, improved epithelium permeability and bioavailability, tissue targeting, and minimum side effects. Over the recent years, nanotechnological approaches have been increasingly applied for treating chronic age-related pathological conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Currently, phytonanotherapy represents a promising innovative approach, which can overcome some of the drawbacks of conventional therapeutic strategies. Using PBC-loaded nanoformulations may provide synergistic benefits since this therapeutic option may be clinically equivalent to standard treatment with synthetic drugs, but with minimal side effects. Therefore, such approach would provide alternative to conventional therapeutic modalities for management of age-related disorders and opportunity to overcome disadvantages related to using synthetic drugs.