Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jan 26, 2017; 9(1): 1-8
Published online Jan 26, 2017. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v9.i1.1
Preventing aging with stem cell rejuvenation: Feasible or infeasible?
Kanya Honoki
Kanya Honoki, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Nara 634-8521, Japan
Author contributions: Honoki K conceived the issues which formed the content of the manuscript and wrote the manuscript.
Supported by The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan, No. 15K10455.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Honoki K declares no conflict of interest related to this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Kanya Honoki, MD, PhD, MMedSci, Associate Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Nara Medical University, 840 Shijo-cho, Kashihara, Nara 634-8521, Japan. kahonoki@naramed-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-744-223051 Fax: +81-744-256449
Received: July 5, 2016
Peer-review started: July 5, 2016
First decision: August 11, 2016
Revised: August 22, 2016
Accepted: October 1, 2016
Article in press: October 9, 2016
Published online: January 26, 2017
Processing time: 198 Days and 5.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Functional loss of stem cells plays an important role in organismic aging processes. Recent advances in aging research have uncovered the molecular mechanisms of aging, specifically signaling pathways involved in interactions between stem cells and their environment, the so-called “stem cell niche”. Investigating plasma fraction factors has revealed several key pathways involved in this process, including Notch/Delta, Wnt, transforming growth factor-β, JAK/STAT, mammalian target of rapamycin and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling. Stem cell rejuvenation has the potential to lead organismic rejuvenation by modulating these pathways, hopefully by synthetic or natural agents such as phytochemicals and flavonoids.