In a groundbreaking study, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine presented their findings at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in California on April 9. The team revealed that having a biological age older than your actual age can increase cancer risk in people under 55 years old.
Patients under 55 with cancer are considered to have early-onset cancer, and experts analyzed data from nearly 150,000 individuals in the UK Biobank facility to estimate their biological age using nine blood biomarkers. The study found that individuals with advanced biological age were at higher risk of early-onset lung, gastrointestinal, and cervical cancers. Additionally, people born after 1965 are at risk of aging 17% faster than those born in earlier decades.
The research highlights the increasing commonality of premature aging among young people, which may be an important risk factor for cancer alongside environmental and lifestyle factors. The team is now focused on identifying factors that contribute to premature aging to develop personalized cancer prevention strategies. The hope is that this research will lead to interventions to slow down the biological aging process and improve cancer prevention efforts for young people.
As awareness of the impact of rapid aging and maintaining health consciousness becomes increasingly important, continued work by scientists in this field will target new pathways for cancer prevention and personalized interventions to slow down the aging process.
