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Researchers searching for clues as to why some types of cancer develop at a younger age say they've found an interesting lead: a link to accelerated biological aging.
A major risk factor for many types of cancer is aging, which means that the older you get, the more likely you are to be diagnosed. And more and more experts realize that age is more than the number of candles on a birthday cake. It's also the physical wear and tear caused by lifestyle, stress, and genetics, which is sometimes referred to as a person's biological age.
“We all know that cancer is a disease A disease of old age. However, it is really coming to the young population. Dr. Yin Cao, assistant professor of surgery at St. Louis and Washington University School of Medicine, said that if we can apply the well-developed concept of biological aging to the younger generation, it's really an untapped area. The senior author of the new study presented Sunday at the annual conference of the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego.
Kao and her team looked at the medical records of 148,724 people aged 37 to 54 who participated in a large database called UK Biobank.
They found nine blood-based markers associated with biological age:
- Album: A protein made by the liver It decreases with age
- Creatinine: wastes in the blood due to protein digestion and breakdown of muscle tissue; A measure Kidney function. Low levels It is associated with better longevity.
- Glucose With age, blood sugar stays longer after a meal.
- c-reactive protein; Made by the liver in response to inflammation; relatively High standards It is related to rapid aging
- Lymphocyte percentage; It attracts the attention of these white blood cells related to the immune function decrease with age.
- Average cell size: A measure of the average size of red blood cells, which It increases with age
- Red cell distribution width; The difference between the size of a person's smallest and largest red blood cells, which tends to Increase with age
- alkaline phosphatase; An enzyme produced mainly by the liver and bones Increase with age
- white blood cell count The number of white cells in The upper end of the normal range High blood pressure can be compared to aging.
These nine values are attached to that An algorithm called PhenoAge It was used to calculate the biological age of each person. The researchers determined accelerated aging by comparing people's biological age with their chronological age.
They then checked cancer registries to see how many early cancers were found in the group; The researchers defined these as cancers that occur before the age of 55. About 3,200 cancers were found.
The researchers People born in 1965 or later are 17% more likely to age faster than those born between 1950 and 1954.
After adjusting the data for factors that they thought could bias their results, the researchers He found that accelerated aging is associated with an increased risk of cancer. The strongest associations were observed with lung, stomach and colon and uterine cancers.
In the Biobank sample, people with high scores were twice as likely to develop lung cancer, more than 60 percent more likely to develop gastrointestinal tumors, and more than 80 percent more likely to develop cervical cancer, compared to people with low rates of rapid aging in the Biobank sample. Cancer.
The study isn't designed to answer questions about why these types of cancer seem to have such a strong link to accelerated aging, but Ruyi Tian, the graduate student who led the study, has some theories.
According to Tian, the lungs are more vulnerable to aging than other types of tissue because Lung regeneration is limited. Stomach and colon cancers are linked to aging-related inflammation, she says.
Kao said the study's strength was that the researchers looked at these symptoms in a large number of people, but she also acknowledged the study's limitations.
For example, the people in the study were not followed over time. Blood test results are obtained from a single test, so they only give a snapshot of risk, which can change. Ideally, the researchers said they could follow the same group over the years, taking blood samples along the way to get a more accurate picture of their risk.
“The ideal scenario is that we will have many blood collections throughout our lifetime, which is impossible even in biobanks like the UK Biobank,” Cao said.
She said that the association should also be tested with different populations as the effects of social issues associated with racial discrimination should be better understood.
Dr. Ann Blais, who studies the effects of biological aging on cancer survivors at the University of Minnesota, said the results of the study are exciting because they may point to a better way to find people at high risk of developing cancer. Young man. Currently, young adults without a family history or other risk factors are not routinely screened for most types of cancer.
“We're seeing more and more cancers in younger individuals, especially GI cancers and breast cancers. And if we have a way to identify who's at higher risk for those, you can imagine that we're actually going to be recommending screening at a different time,” Blaise, director of the division of hematology and oncology at the UM School of Medicine. She did not participate in the new study.
If they can find people who are at high risk because their cells age quickly, Blaise said, they can also target lifestyle changes—such as diet, exercise and sleep.
“There are also drugs that seem to slow down accelerated aging,” said Blaise, who is testing two cancer survivors. Cancer survivors often show more biological aging, perhaps after the effects of treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.
The drugs belong to a class of drugs called senolytics. Intended to target and remove damaged and aging cells.
Right now, it's unclear who will benefit from these drugs, but accelerated aging tests like PhenoAge may one day help doctors pinpoint the people who need them most.
“It's very exciting. It's not a very mainstream time to get out and prescribe those drugs to people, but it's really important work,” Blais said.