According to a study introduced at an industry conference earlier this month, the increasing incidence of cancer among people aged 55 and younger may be related to accelerated aging in this group.
At the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting held in early April, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (WUSM) presented their findings on accelerated aging.
Ruiyi Tian, a doctoral graduate from WUSM and a member of the research team, stated during the presentation, “Various types of cancer are becoming more common in young people in the United States and globally. Understanding the factors driving this growth will be crucial in improving cancer prevention or early detection for the younger generation and future generations.”
Tian and her colleagues hypothesized that an increase in biological age, also known as physiological age, could lead to early-onset cancer as a marker of accelerated aging. Early-onset cancer typically refers to cancer diagnosed in adults under the age of 55. Tian explained that unlike measuring an individual’s actual chronological age, biological age refers to a person’s physical condition and physiological processes, believed to be modifiable.
“Unlike actual age, biological age may be influenced by factors such as diet, physical activity, mental health, and environmental stressors,” she added. “There is growing evidence that the rate of aging in the younger generation may be faster than expected, likely due to earlier exposure to various risk factors and environmental damage. However, the impact of accelerated aging on the development of early-onset cancer remains unclear.”
In order to investigate the relationship between biological age and cancer risk in young individuals, Tian and her colleagues analyzed data from 148,724 individuals in the UK Biobank database, calculating each participant’s biological age using nine biomarkers found in blood samples. Participants whose biological age exceeded their actual age were defined as accelerated agers.
Subsequently, they evaluated the association between accelerated aging and the risk of early-onset cancer. They found that with each additional standard deviation of accelerated aging, the risk of early-onset lung cancer increased by 42%, early-onset gastrointestinal cancer by 22%, and early-onset uterine cancer by 36%.
“By studying the relationship between accelerated aging and the risk of early-onset cancer, we have provided a new perspective on the common causes of early-onset cancer,” Tian said. “If validated, our research results suggest that interventions to slow biological aging may be a new avenue for cancer prevention, and screening efforts targeting young people showing signs of accelerated aging could help in the early detection of cancer.”
This article is based on a report from the American Association for Cancer Research website.