Aging is defined broadly as the normal progressive process, consequently leading to growing vulnerability to disease and death. A major challenge lies in dissecting the underlying mechanisms of aging with conventional experiments due to the complexity of and multicontributions to the aging process, reflecting a need for investigation into it in various aspects. For this reason, the age process has currently been subjected to OMICS technologies including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, allowing the exploration of age-related changes in a multifactorial manner. In addition, since age-dependent decline in stem cell function is almost identical to the biological age, stem cells have used to understand “aging” and to investigate key reverse factors for “antiaging”. This suggests that a range of new approaches are needed to reveal the unknown biological basis for aging at a variety of different molecular levels using stem cells as a tool of normal aging process and can further apply fundamental aspects in biological aging and longevity.
Part of the book: Progress in Stem Cell Transplantation