How Childhood Cancer Treatments Can Speed Up Biological Aging

For those diagnosed with cancer at a young age, these individuals face an increased risk of cardiometabolic and cardiovascular conditions due to treatment-related epigenetic age acceleration, according to research published in the journal, JACC: CardioOncology. Notably, epigenetic age acceleration is marker of faster-than-normal biological aging.

In a study of 2,939 long-term childhood cancer survivors, investigators found that epigenetic age acceleration can partially explain why certain cancer treatments are linked to later health problems in childhood cancer survivors. This includes treatments like abdominal or heart radiotherapy, anthracyclines, and corticosteroids, which are associated with increased risks for conditions such as abnormal glucose metabolism, high blood pressure, obesity, heart muscle damage and heart attacks. Overall, these findings suggest that accelerated biological aging may serve as a target for future interventions aimed at reducing late treatment-related toxicities.

To further explain the outcomes of this study, CURE sat down for an interview with Dr. Zhaoming Wang, who broke down how epigenetic age acceleration affects a person’s health long after treatment ends.

Wang is a full member of the Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control and the Department of Computational Biology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where he also serves on the faculty of the St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the institution’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Transcript

Can you explain what ‘epigenetic age acceleration’ means in simple terms, and how it affects a person’s health long after treatment ends?

To explain it in simple terms, epigenetic age acceleration is the difference between your biological age and your chronological age, specifically using a type of biological age measurement called "epigenetic age." There are various ways to measure biological age, and epigenetic age is one of them.

Epigenetic age acceleration essentially tells you if you are biologically older or younger than your actual chronological age. For example, if someone is chronologically 40 years old but their biological age is 45, they have a positive epigenetic age acceleration value. This means they are biologically older than they "should be" when compared to the average for their chronological age. A high epigenetic age acceleration value indicates that a person is biologically older.

Many diseases are age-related; for instance, older individuals tend to develop heart attacks, cardiovascular conditions, hypertension, or high blood sugar more frequently. What we observe in cancer survivors is that their cancer treatment actually accelerates this aging process, putting them on a fast track in terms of advancing aging. Chronologically, a 10-year-old survivor might be only five years out from treatment, but biologically, they could be closer to a 15-year-old in the non-cancer population. Similarly, a 20-year-old cancer survivor might biologically appear to be 30.

I hope this helps you understand that epigenetic age acceleration measures the difference between your biological age and your chronological age.

Reference

1. "Epigenetic Age Acceleration Mediates Treatment Effects on Cardiometabolic and Cardiovascular Risk in Childhood Cancer Survivors," by Dr. Xiaoxi Meng, et al. JACC: CardioOncology.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.