Abstract
During the last 50–60 years, due to development of medical care and hygienically safe living conditions, the average life span of European citizens has substantially increased, with a rapid growth of the population older than 65 years. This trend places ever-growing medical and economical burden on society, as many of the older subjects suffer from age-related diseases and frailty. Coping with these problems requires not only appropriate medical treatment and social support but also extensive research in many fields of aging—from biology to sociology, with involvement of older people as the research subjects. This work anticipates development and application of ethical standards suited to dynamic advances in aging research. The aim of this review is to update the knowledge in ethical requirements toward recruitment of older research subjects, obtaining of informed consent, collection of biological samples, and use of stem cells in preclinical and clinical settings. It is concluded that application of adequate ethical platform markedly facilitates recruitment of older persons for participation in research. Currently, the basic ethical concepts are subjected to extensive discussion, with participation of all interested parties, in order to guarantee successful research on problems of human aging, protect older people from undesired interference, and afford their benefits through supporting innovations in research, therapy, and care.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Árnason V (2010) Bioethics in Iseland. Camb Q Healtc Ethics 19:299–309
Auray-Blais C, Patenaude J (2006) A biobank management model applicable to biomedical research. BMC Med Ethics 7:1–9
Beccafico S, Puglielli C, Pietrangelo T, Bellomo R, Fanò G, Fulle S (2007) Age-dependent effects on functional aspects in human satellite cells. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1100:345–352
Bigot A, Jacquemin V, Debacq-Chainiaux F, Buttler-Browne G, Toussaint O, Furling D, Mouly V (2008) Replicative aging down-regulates the myogenic regulatory factors in human myoblasts. Biol Cell 100:189–199
Blair McCormick J, Huso HA (2010) Stem cells and ethics: current issues. J Cardiovasc Trans Res 3:122–127
Bringnier AC, Gewirtz AM (2010) Embryonic and adult stem cell therapy. J Allergy Clin Immunol 125:S336–S344
Council of Europe (2005) Additional protocol to the convention on human rights and biomedicine concerning biomedical research, Strasbourg, 2005. European treaty series no. 195
Doerflinger RM (2010) Old and new ethics in the stem cell debate. J Law Med Ethics 38(2):212–319
Dresser R (2010) Stem cell research as innovation: expanding the ethical ad policy conversation. J Law Med Ethics 38(2):332–341
Duff K, Mold JW, Gidron Y (2009) Cognitive functioning predicts survival in the elderly. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 31:90–95
Elger BS, Caplan AL (2006) Consent and anonymization in research involving biobanks. EMBO Reports 7:661–666
Ezzat H, Ross S, von Dadelzen P, Morris T, Liston R, Magee LA (2010) Ethics review as a component of institutional approval for a multicentre continuous quality improvement project: the investigator’s perspective. Health Service Res 10:223 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/10/223
Franceschi C, Motta L, Valensin S, Rapisarda R, Franzone A, Berardelli M, Motta M, Monti D, Bonafè M, Ferrucci L, Deiana L, Pes GM, Carru C, Desole MS, Barbi C, Sartoni G, Gemelli C, Lescai F, Olivieri F, Marchegiani F, Cardelli M, Cavallone L, Gueresi P, Cossarizza A, Troiano L, Pini G, Sansoni P, Passeri G, Lisa R, Spazzafumo L, Amadio L, Giunta S, Stecconi R, Morresi R, Viticchi C, Mattace R, De Benedictis G, Baggio G (2000) Do men and women follow different trajectories to reach extreme longevity? Italian Multicenter Study on Centenarians (IMUSCE). Aging (Milano) 12:77–84
Fries JF (2000) Compression of morbidity in the elderly. Vaccine 18:1584–1589
Fulle S, Belia S, Di Tano G (2005) Sarcopenia is more than a muscular deficit. Arch Ital Biol 143:229–234
Godard B, Schmidtke J, Cassiman J, Ayme S (2003) Data storage and DNA banking for biomedical research: informed consent, confidentiality, quality issues, ownership, return of benefits. A professional perspective. Eur J Hum Gen 11:S88–S122
Goldstein L (2010) Why scientific details are important when novel technologies encounter law, politics, and ethics. J Law Med Ethics 38(2):204–211
Hawkins AK (2010) Biobanks: importance, implications and opportunities for genetic counsellors. J Genet Counsel. doi:10.1007/s10897-010-9305-1
Holdcroft A (2007) Integrating the dimensions of sex and gender into basic life sciences research: methodological and ethical issues. Gender Med 4(Suppl B):S64–S74
Hovatta O, Stojkovic M, Nogueira M, Varela-Nieto I (2010) European scientific, ethical, and legal issues on human stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Stem Cells 28:1005–1007
Hug K (2005) Sources of human embryos for stem cell research: ethical problems and their possible solutions. Medicina (Kaunas) 41:1002–1010
Hyun I (2010a) The bioethics of stem cell research and therapy. J Clin Invest 120:71–75
Hyun I (2010b) Allowing innovative stem cell-based therapies outside of clinical trials: ethical and policy challenges. J Law Med Ethics 38(2):277–285
Ilkilic I, Ertin H (2010) Ethical aspects of human embryonic stem cell research in the Islamic world: positions and reflections. Stem Cell Rev Rep 6:151–161
Ivashkov Y, Van Norman GA (2009) Informed consent and the ethical management of older patient. Anesthesiol Clin 27:569–580
Judd F, Armstrong S, Kulkarni J (2009) Gender-sensitive mental health care. Australas Psychiatry 17:105–111
Kapp MB (2006) Ethical and legal issues in research involving human subjects: do you want a piece of me? J Clin Pathol 59:335–339
Karlawish J (2008) Measuring decision-making capacity in cognitively impaired individuals. Neurosignals 16:91–98
Kawakami M, Sipp D, Kato K (2010) Regulatory impacts on stem cell research in Japan. Cell Stem cell 6:415–418
Kim SYH, Appelbaum PS, Jeste DV, Olin JT (2004) Proxy and surrogate consent in geriatric neuropsychiatric research: update and recommendations. Am J Psychiatry 161:797–806
Krynski MD, Tymchuk AJ, Ouslander JG (1994) How informed can consent be? New light on comprehension among elderly people making decisions about enteral tube feeding. Gerontologist 34:36–43
Kuang S, Rudnicki MA (2007) The emerging biology of satellite cells and their therapeutic potential. Cell Press 14:81–91
Lawrence K, Rieder A (2007) Methodologic and ethical ramifications of sex and gender differences in public health research. Gender Med 4:S96–S105
Lo B, Parham L (2009) Ethical issues in stem cell research. Endocrine Rev 30:204–213
Lo B, Parham L, Cedras M, Fisher S, Gates E, Giudice L, Gould Halme D, Hershorn W, Kriegstein A, Rao R, Roberst C, Wagner R (2010) Research ethics: NIH guidelines for stem cell research and gamete donors. Science 372:962–963
Luna F, Salles A (2010) On moral incoherence and hidden battles: stem cell research in Argentina. Dev World Bioethics 10:120–128
Marshall J (2006) Life extension research: an analysis of contemporary biological theories and ethical issues. Med Health Care Philos 9:87–96
Matthews E, Haimes E, Duguet A-M, Clark BFC, Swine C, Touissant O (2005) Informed consent of very old patients and modern genomics. Biogerontology 6:81–84
Medical Research Council (2001) Human tissue and biological samples for use in research. Operational and ethical guidelines. MRC’s website: www.mrc.ac.uk
Mody L, Miller DK, McGloin JM, Freeman M, Marcantonio ER, Maganizer J, Studensky S (2008) Recruitment and retention of older adults in aging research. J Am Geriatr Soc 56:2340–2348
Moerman CJ, Haafkens JA, Soderstrom M, Ràsky E, Maguire P, Maschewsky-Schneider U, Norstedt M, Hahn D, Reinerth H, McKevitt N (2007) Gender equality in the work of local research ethics committees in Europe: a study of practice in five countries. J Med Ethics 33:107–112
Moore KE, Mills JF, Thornton MM (2006) Alternative sources of adult stem cells: a possible solution to the embryonic stem cell debate. Gender Med 3:161–168
Moye J, Marson D (2007) Assessment of decision-making capacity in older adults: an emerging area of practice and research. J Gerontol 62B:P3–P11
Negroni E, Riederer I, Chaouch S, Belicchi M, Razini P, Di Santo J, Torrente Y, Butler-Browne GS, Mouly V (2009) In vivo myogenic potential of human CD133+ muscle-derived stem cells: a quantitative study. Mol Ther 17:1771–1778
Newton-Howes PA, Bedford ND, Dobbs BR, Frizelle FA (1998) Informed consent: what do patients want to know? N Z Med J 111:340–342
Nyika A (2009) Ethical and practical challenges surrounding genetic and genomic research in developing countries. Acta Trop 112S:S21–S31
Sade RM (2002) Research on stored biological samples is still research. Arch Int Med 162:1439–1440
Sugarman J, McCrory DC, Hubal RC (1998) Getting meaningful informed consent from older adults: a structured literature review of empirical research. J Am Geriatr Soc 46:517–524
The International Stem Cell Banking Initiative (2009) Consensus guidance for banking and supply of human embryonic stem cell lines for research purposes. Stem Cell Rev Rep 5:301–314
Torke AM, Alexander GC, Lantos J (2008) Substituted judgement: the limitations of autonomy in surrogate decision making. J Gen Intern Med 23:1514–1517
Turner L (2004) Biotechnology, bioethics and anti-aging interventions. Trends Biotechnol 22:219–221
Watson RWG, Kay EW, Smith D (2010) Integrating biobanks: addressing the practical and ethical issues to deliver a valuable tool for cancer research. Nature Rev 10:646–651
Wizemann TM, Pardue ML (eds) (2001) For committee on understanding the biological contributions to human health: exploring the biological contributions to human health. Does sex matter? Institute of Medicine, National Academic Press, Washington DC, pp 17–19
Yoshioka M, Boivin A, Bolduc C, St-Amand J (2007) Gender difference of androgen actions on skeletal muscle transcriptome. J Mol Endocrinol 39:119–133
Acknowledgment
This review was supported by EU—MYOAGE project, FP7 223576, and by the grants of Estonian Science Foundation No 7823 and 8736.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Seppet, E., Pääsuke, M., Conte, M. et al. Ethical aspects of aging research. Biogerontology 12, 491–502 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-011-9340-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-011-9340-9