Ageing appears to be a nearly universal feature of life, ranging from unicellular microorganisms to humans. Longevity depends on the maintenance of cellular functionality, and an organism's ability to respond to stress has been linked to functional maintenance and longevity. Stress response pathways might indeed become therapeutic targets of therapies aimed at extending the healthy lifespan. Various progeroid syndromes have been linked to genome instability, indicating an important causal role of DNA damage accumulation in the ageing process and the development of age-related pathologies. Recently, non-cell-autonomous mechanisms including the systemic consequences of cellular senescence have been implicated in regulating organismal ageing. We discuss here the role of cellular and systemic mechanisms of ageing and their role in ageing-associated diseases.

中文翻译：

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DNA老化中的损伤反应。

从单细胞微生物到人类，衰老似乎是生命的几乎普遍特征。长寿取决于细胞功能的维持，有机体对压力的反应能力与功能维持和长寿相关。应激反应途径确实可能成为旨在延长健康寿命的疗法的治疗目标。各种早衰综合症与基因组不稳定有关，表明DNA损伤积累在衰老过程和与年龄相关的病理学发展中起重要的因果作用。近来，包括细胞衰老的系统性后果在内的非细胞自主机制已参与调节机体衰老。