Cancer rates are rising among adults under 55, and new research suggests that accelerated biological aging may be a contributing factor. The findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine, show that younger generations exhibit higher biological ages than older generations did at the same chronological age.
The study, led by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, found that younger people were more likely to show signs of accelerated biological aging. Researchers also identified a link between this accelerated aging and an increased risk of early-onset cancer.
“Our ultimate goal is to decipher how the modern environment is biologically affecting the body, increasing cancer risk, and to move prevention from general recommendations to personalized interventions,” said Yin Cao, a molecular epidemiologist and associate professor of surgery and medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine.
The link between biological age and cancer risk
Chronological age measures the number of years a person has lived, while biological age reflects how old the body appears based on changes in cells, organs, metabolism, and other physiological systems. Researchers found that cancer risk increased as the gap between biological and chronological age widened.
An analysis of data from over 154,000 young adults in the UK Biobank and more than 10,000 participants in the U.S. NIH All of Us Research Program showed that more pronounced systemic aging was linked to an 8% higher risk of early-onset solid tumors. Researchers define this category as cancer diagnosed at age 55 or younger. People with the most advanced systemic aging had a 15% higher risk than those with the fewest signs of aging.
The generational gap was evident in both the UK and the U.S. Among UK participants, those born between 1965–1974 had a systemic aging score 23% of a standard deviation higher than those born between 1950–1954, even after adjusting for chronological age. In the U.S., participants born between 1990–1999 had a systemic aging score 92% of a standard deviation higher than those born between 1965–1969.
Scientists also identified specific patterns for individual organs and systems. Accelerated immune system aging was linked to an increased risk of early-onset lung cancer, while more pronounced biological aging of fat tissue was tied to early-onset colorectal cancer. The strongest links between systemic aging and early-onset cancer also involved gastrointestinal and uterine cancers.
Investigating the causes of early-onset cancer
The study is part of the PROSPECT team’s work under Cancer Grand Challenges, an international research initiative co-founded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research UK. Its goal is to bring together scientists from various fields to study complex problems, including the reasons behind the rising prevalence of early-onset cancer.
Previously, Yin Cao‘s team investigated various factors that may affect lifetime cancer risk, including obesity, metabolic disorders, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyles, and poor diet. However, no single factor explains a significant portion of the overall trend.
Researchers note that there is currently no definitive answer as to why early-onset cancer is becoming more common across different countries. They continue to study how changes in the environment, lifestyle, and society may leave long-term biological changes in the body and make some people more vulnerable to disease.
In the future, markers of accelerated biological aging could help doctors identify young people at higher risk of cancer and implement preventive measures or screenings earlier. However, researchers emphasize that the results currently show a link between biological aging and cancer risk, rather than proving that accelerated aging directly causes the disease.
Source: ScienceDaily
