Low Grade Inflammation as a Common Pathogenetic Denominator in Age-Related
Diseases: Novel Drug Targets for Anti-Ageing Strategies and Successful Ageing
Achievement
Nowadays, people are living much longer than they used to do, however they are not free from ageing. Ageing, an inexorable
intrinsic process that affects all cells, tissues, organs and individuals, is a post-maturational process that, due to a diminished homeostasis
and increased organism frailty, causes a reduction of the response to environmental stimuli and, in general, is associated to an increased
predisposition to illness and death. However, the high incidence of death due to infectious, cardiovascular and cancer diseases underlies a
common feature in these pathologies that is represented by dysregulation of both instructive and innate immunity. Several studies show
that a low-grade systemic inflammation characterizes ageing and that inflammatory markers are significant predictors of mortality in old
humans. This pro-inflammatory status of the elderly underlies biological mechanisms responsible for physical function decline and agerelated
diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and atherosclerosis are initiated or worsened by systemic inflammation. Understanding of the
ageing process should have a prominent role in new strategies for extending the health old population. Accordingly, as extensively
discussed in the review and in the accompanying related papers, investigating ageing pathophysiology, particularly disentangling agerelated
low grade inflammation, is likely to provide important clues about how to develop drugs that can slow or delay ageing