  Recent studies have demonstrated that network approaches are highly
appropriate tools to understand the extreme complexity of the aging process.
The generality of the network concept helps to define and study the aging of
technological, social networks and ecosystems, which may give novel concepts to
cure age-related diseases. The current review focuses on the role of
protein-protein interaction networks (interactomes) in aging. Hubs and
inter-modular elements of both interactomes and signaling networks are key
regulators of the aging process. Aging induces an increase in the permeability
of several cellular compartments, such as the cell nucleus, introducing gross
changes in the representation of network structures. The large overlap between
aging genes and genes of age-related major diseases makes drugs which aid
healthy aging promising candidates for the prevention and treatment of
age-related diseases, such as cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes and
neurodegenerative disorders. We also discuss a number of possible research
options to further explore the potential of the network concept in this
important field, and show that multi-target drugs (representing
"magic-buckshots" instead of the traditional "magic bullets") may become an
especially useful class of age-related future drugs.
