Scientists discover possible explanation for rise in early-onset cancer in new study
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images
Scientists have uncovered a possible explanation for a rise in easy-onset cancer diagnoses, which is defined as those with the disease under the age of 50.
One in two of us are likely to develop a form of cancer in our lifetime, and while you may think it's a disease that only affects the older generation, cancer cases in the under 50s are increasing.
Cancers diagnosed in patients under the half century mark increased by 24 per cent globally between 1990 and 2019, with cases continuing to rise.
As a result, research into the disease is as important as ever, as scientists continue to study why cases of early-onset cancer are increasing.
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A new study lead by researchers at WashU Medicine uncovered that younger generations are aging faster biologically than their parents and grandparents, for example.
The study, published in Nature Medicine, saw experts studying over 154,000 individuals from the UK biobank and 10,000 people from the US.
And their findings uncovered that accelerated biological aging is linked with "a higher risk of developing multiple cancers earlier in life, specifically early-onset lung cancer, colorectal cancer and uterine cancer."
Biological age was determined using blood samples, alongside other heath data to determine whether a person was aging more than expected for their current age.
An algorithm known as PhenoAge was then used, which encompasses blood results of participants that tells the story of a variety of different health measures, including inflammation and immune system function.
Dr Yin Cao, associate professor of surgery and of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, said: “Biological ageing isn’t just about the number of birthdays you’ve had — it reflects wear and tear happening inside the body at a cellular and molecular level.
“This can include changes that affect how cells and tissues function, such as chronic inflammation, weakening of the immune system and damage building up in cells over time.”
The team discovered a link between immune aging and early-onset lung cancer, on top of early-onset colorectal cancer cases being tied to adipose tissue aging.
Dr David Scott, who played a key role in collecting the research, quipped: "Right now, we don’t have a definitive answer to what’s driving the rise of early-onset cancers around the world, but studies like this are helping us piece together the bigger picture, showing that cancer may be influenced not just by changes inside individual cells, but by wider changes happening across the body as a whole.
"These findings suggest that accelerated biological ageing could reflect the combined impact of our lifestyles and environments on the body over time, potentially helping explain why some cancers are appearing earlier in younger generations."