Aging is marked by a gradual change in biological functions, with epigenetics playing a central role in determining how these changes contribute to various diseases like neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Epigenetic regulation, which includes DNA methylation, histone modifications, and the actions of non-coding RNAs, directly impacts gene expression without altering the DNA sequence itself. This dynamic system offers promising avenues for developing novel therapies. However, despite significant technological advances, the precise mechanisms through which epigenetic modifications influence aging and disease progression remain unclear, highlighting a pronounced gap in our current understanding and the need for sophisticated analytical approaches.

This Research Topic aims to deeply explore the impact of epigenetic modifications on aging and address how these can be manipulated for therapeutic benefits. With advancements in epigenomic profiling tools and targeted epigenetic medications, there is an unprecedented opportunity to harness these mechanisms for delaying aging and mitigating related diseases. Our goal includes evaluating the potential of natural compounds and nutraceuticals that can modulate epigenetic marks to foster development in epigenetic medicine.

To effectively expand our knowledge and therapeutic strategies, this Research Topic will focus on the following key areas:

Epigenetic mechanisms underlying aging

Epigenetic regulation in age-related diseases

Development and assessment of epigenetic-based pharmacological interventions

Natural products including plant an fungal extracts and isolated metabolites as modulators of the epigenome

Discovery of biomarkers for aging and their subsequent clinical translations

We invite submissions including original research articles, comprehensive reviews, mini-reviews, methods papers, and case reports, particularly those from interdisciplinary studies that merge insights from epigenetics, pharmacology, and aging biology, aiding in groundbreaking developments in anti-aging

Please note:
If patient data are analyzed, a comprehensive description of the patients including sex, age, diagnostic criteria, inclusion and exclusion criteria, disease stage, therapy received, comorbidities as well as additional clinical information and assessment of clinical response/effects should be included. If genetic, proteomics, metabolomics, or other omics data are analyzed, a comprehensive description of the methods and the rationale for selecting the specific data studied should be provided. Studies related to natural compounds, herbal extracts, or traditional medicine products, are outside the scope of the Specialty Section Pharmacogenetics & Pharmacogenomics, and should instead be submitted to the specialty section of Ethnopharmacology. Studies solely based on the analysis of public databases or published evidence, with no further experimental insights or insufficient experimental validation, will not be included in this Research Topic.

Studies to the specialty section of Ethnopharmacology need to comply with the best practice guidelines of the leading journals for pharmacological studies on plant extract / natural products including the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology and follow the standards established in the ConPhyMP statement Front. Pharmacol. 13:953205.. A detailed description of the material studied, its extraction and processing is essential and manuscripts which lack such a description will be desk-rejected. You can freely download the full version here. For clinical and intervention studies such reporting also needs to include deatails on the quality control and quality assurance of the preparations used. Please self-assess your MS using the ConPhyMP tool.
Purely in silico studies are outside of the scope of this journal (e.g. network studies)

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Advancements in Pharmacological Epigenetics for Aging and Age-related Diseases