Abstract
Objectives: To review gut microbiota in aging-associated diseases.
Design: A review study.
Participants: People over 60 years of age with microbiota dysbiosis.
Outcome measures: The occurrence of aging-associated diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), osteoarthritis (OA), prostate cancer (PC), and colorectal cancer (CRC).
Results: The microbiome plays an essential role in the maturation, function, and regulation of human life from birth to old age. Human life, in turn, has co-evolved interactions with the trillions of beneficial microbes that inhabit our bodies while developing efficient responses to combat invading pathogens. Along with this, both human life and the gut microbiota (GM) undergo major modifications in conformation and function that resulted in increased vulnerability to infections and other age-related diseases such as Parkinson, Alzheimer, and OA.
Conclusions: The GM is involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Its role in age-related diseases is well recognized and has been identified as a promising therapeutic target. Moreover, the microbiota of the elderly population exhibits unique microbial signatures that link the natural aging process to changes in the composition of the GM.