Regenerative medicine: shedding light into the link between aging and cancer

The evidence linking aging and cancer is overwhelming. Findings emerging from the field of regenerative medicine reinforce the notion that aging and cancer are profoundly interrelated in their pathogenetic pathways. We discuss evidence to indicate that age-associated alterations in the tissue microenvironment contribute to the emergence of a neoplastic-prone tissue landscape, which is able to support the selective growth of pre-neoplastic cell populations. Interestingly, tissue contexts that are able to select for the growth of pre-neoplastic cells, including the aged liver microenvironment, are also supportive for the clonal expansion of normal, homotypic, transplanted cells. This suggests that the growth of normal and pre-neoplastic cells is possibly driven by similar mechanisms, implying that strategies based on principles of regenerative medicine might be applicable to modulate neoplastic disease.