Aging as a Challenge For Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine holds great - albeit not unlimited - promise for extending healthy life by replacing age-damaged tissue, and ultimately replacing age-damaged organs. However, as for everything involving our biology, the path forward is not as simple as it might appear. Repairing the damage of aging by simply replacing tissue - even assuming you've repaired any age-related damage in the stem cells taken from the patient to use in therapy - runs into the interconnected nature of the body's systems: Tissue engineering for a new heart, plus the necessary understanding to repair any damage in your stem cells? One problem you quickly run into in this sort of thought experiment is that everything of importance is influenced by everything else. New cells will be damaged by the old intracellular environment, as well as by the actions of old cells next door. An age-damaged immune system can't protect rejuvenated cells in a new heart. And so on; I'm sure you could list many more important connections that will trip you up if you replace only one component of the aging body. This is a challenge for the near future of regenerative medicine - also known as cell therapy in its present...