Faster Biological Aging Linked to Early-Onset Cancer Rise — SkimNews
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- WashU Medicine researchers found younger generations show faster biological aging than earlier generations at the same chronological age, analyzing data from more than 154,000 UK Biobank participants and over 10,000 US participants in the NIH's All of Us Research Program.
- The generational gap was substantial in both datasets: UK participants born 1965–1974 had systemic aging 23% of one standard deviation higher than those born 1950–1954, while US participants born 1990–1999 showed systemic aging 92% of one SD higher than those born 1965–1969.
- Greater systemic aging was associated with an 8% increased risk of early-onset solid cancers, with the strongest associations appearing for lung, gastrointestinal, and uterine cancers.
- Participants in the most advanced aging group had a 15% increased risk of early-onset solid cancer compared to those with the least advanced aging, even after accounting for inherited genetic cancer risk.
- Organ-specific aging revealed targeted links: advanced immune system aging was tied to early-onset lung cancer, while older-appearing adipose (fat) tissue was tied to early-onset colorectal cancer.
- The findings were published in Nature Medicine as part of Team PROSPECT, a Cancer Grand Challenges initiative co-led by Yin Cao and funded jointly by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute.
- Yin Cao's team said biological age measurements could eventually let doctors flag younger adults with unusually high cancer risk for earlier screening or prevention.
Why it matters: The study gives researchers a measurable marker — not just lifestyle risk factors — to flag high-risk younger adults before cancer develops, potentially shifting prevention toward individualized, biology-based screening. With each successive US birth cohort showing nearly a full standard deviation more systemic aging than the last, the gap is large enough to matter at a population level for early-onset lung, gastrointestinal, uterine, and colorectal cancers.
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