Geriatric Regenerative Medicine: Mechanisms, Strategies, and Clinical Translation

Abstract

Population aging has intensified interest in interventions that preserve function and delay disability. However, regenerative strategies for older adults are often discussed as isolated technologies, with limited attention to how aging biology alters therapeutic responses or how clinical benefit should be measured. We therefore proposed geriatric regenerative medicine as an integrative framework that links age‐related mechanisms, regenerative interventions, and clinically measurable functional outcomes. This review synthesized three converging areas: stem cell‐based therapies, including recent findings on epigenetic and mechanotransductive drivers of stem cell aging, and strategies from pharmacological rejuvenation to cell replacement; senolytic and senomorphic agents targeting senescent cells and the senescence‐associated secretory phenotype (SASP), with clinical trial data and the rationale for personalized approaches; and tissue engineering and biomaterials that are moving from passive scaffolds to active, senescence‐targeting platforms. Interconnections among these areas and the biological, regulatory, economic, and ethical challenges to clinical use were examined. The evidence indicated that healthspan extension would require combined, stratified, and mechanism‐based strategies rather than single interventions.