Higher biological age linked to high risk of breast cancer

According to scientists at the National Institutes of Health, the biological age, an estimate of the age of a person based on DNA, is badociated with the future development of bad cancer. The biological age was determined by measuring the methylation of DNA, a chemical modification of DNA as part of the normal aging process. The study showed that every five years, the biological age of a woman was greater than her chronological or actual age (acceleration of age) and that her risk of developing cancer bad was 15% higher. The study was published online on 22 February in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Scientists from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the NIH, badume that biological age could be linked to environmental exposures. If this is the case, it could be a useful indicator of the risk of disease. They used three different measures, called epigenetic clocks, to estimate the biological age. These clocks measure the methylation found at specific locations in the DNA. Researchers use these clocks to estimate biological age, which can then be compared with chronological age.

The researchers used DNA from blood samples provided by women enrolled in the Sister Study conducted by NIEHS, a group of more than 50,000 women in the United States and Puerto Rico. The study was specifically designed to identify environmental and genetic risk factors for bad cancer. The research team measured methylation in a subset of 2,764 women, all of whom were cancer-free at the time of blood collection.

"We found that if your biological age was greater than your chronological age, your risk of bad cancer was increased.The reverse was also true.If your biological age was younger than your chronological age, you could have a reduced risk of developing bad cancer ", Corresponding author, Jack Taylor, MD, Ph.D., leads the NIEHS molecular and genetic epidemiology group. "However, we do not yet know how exposures and lifestyle factors can affect biological age nor whether this process can be reversed."

Lead author, Jacob Kresovich, Ph.D., a Taylor postdoctoral fellow, had read studies using epigenetic clocks to predict age-related mortality. As age is the main risk factor for bad cancer, he hypothesized that its acceleration could be badociated with a higher risk of bad cancer.

"If you look at a group of people who are all the same age, some people may be in perfect health, some not," Kresovich said. "This variability of health can be better captured by biological age than by chronological age."

Kresovich suggests that using DNA methylation to measure biological age can help scientists better understand people at risk of developing cancer or other diseases related to cancer. # 39; age. This research is an example of epigenetics, a field that studies how biochemical processes activate or deactivate individual genes, without affecting the sequence of the DNA.

The Taylor group plans to continue using epigenetic data, as well as information on genetics, environment and lifestyle, to better understand how these factors interact and contribute to disease risk.

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About the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: The Institute supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of the National Institutes of Health. For more information on NIEHS or on topics related to environmental health, visit http: // www.NIEHS.nih.government or subscribe to a news list.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): The NIH, the country's medical research agency, comprises 27 institutes and centers and is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the lead federal agency that conducts and supports basic, clinical and translational medical research. She studies causes, treatments and cures for common and rare diseases. For more information on NIH and its programs, visit http: // www.nih.government.

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Grant number:

ZIAES049033

ZIAES049032

ZIAES044005

Reference: Kresovich JK, Xu Z, KM O. Brien, CR Weinberg, DP Sandler, Judge Taylor. 2019. Biological age based on methylation and risk of bad cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst; doi: 10.1093 / jnci / djz020 [Online 22 February 2019].