Coumarins as promising scaffold for the treatment of age-related diseases - an overview of the last five years

Degenerative diseases are becoming more common with increasing life expectancy of the human population. The 20th century faced a progressive demographic change in the industrialized world, followed by identical trends in population aging in Asia, Africa, and Middle and South America. A significant increase in chronic age-dependent disorders will soon cause important challenges for several countries. Age-related pathologies are commonly seen in elderly patients. More than 40% of adults over 60 years old present a combination of risk factors, described as metabolic syndrome, which significantly increases the tendency for developing degenerative diseases, and some types of cancers. Among these, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases are on the top of the list. The discovery of effective cardio- and neuroprotective alternative therapeutics that decrease or block disease’s progression at early stages, is the main goal of research groups working in the field. A wide range of different substituted coumarins, and the pharmacological properties they may display, are trend topics because of their synthetic accessibility, as well as their abundance in plants and other naturally-occurring products. These heterocyclic compounds play an important role in a variety of areas, but stand out in the field of Medicinal Chemistry. This review provides an overview of the last five years about the potential of coumarins as modulators of several physiological mechanisms involved in age-related pathologies.