Disease drivers of aging.

It has long been known that aging, at both the cellular and organismal levels, contributes to the development and progression of the pathology of many chronic diseases. However, much less research has examined the inverse relationship-the contribution of chronic diseases and their treatments to the progression of aging-related phenotypes. Here, we discuss the impact of three chronic diseases (cancer, HIV/AIDS, and diabetes) and their treatments on aging, putative mechanisms by which these effects are mediated, and the open questions and future research directions required to understand the relationships between these diseases and aging.