Lifespan prolongation is a common desire of the human race. With advances in biotechnology, the mechanism of aging has been gradually unraveled, laying the theoretical basis of nucleic acid therapy for lifespan prolongation. Regretfully, clinically applicable interventions do not exist without the efforts of converting theory into action, and it is the latter that has been far from adequately addressed at the moment. This was demonstrated by a database search on PubMed and Web of Science, from which only seven studies published between 2000 and 2010 were found to directly touch on the development of nucleic acid therapy for anti-aging and/or longevity enhancing purposes. In light of this, the objective of this article is to overview the current understanding of the intimate association between genes and longevity, and to bring the prospect of nucleic acid therapy for lifespan prolongation to light.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression, and have displayed important roles in areas spanning from embryonic development to skin physiology. Despite this, till now little is known about the significance of miRNAs in cutaneous wound healing. In this mini-review, we discuss the existing evidence on the roles of miRNAs in physiological processes relevant to cutaneous wound healing, followed by a highlight of the prospects and challenges of future development of miRNA-based wound therapies. With existing technologies of nucleic acid transfer and miRNA modulation, it is anticipated that once the roles of miRNAs in wound healing have been clarified, there will be a vast new vista of opportunities brought up for development of miRNA-targeted therapies for wound care.