Scientists worldwide are seeking to understand why the incidence of certain cancers is on the rise among younger generations, and the recently published findings from a global research initiative suggest that accelerated aging may play a role. The study results were released in the journal Nature Medicine.
The research conducted by the PROSPECT team under the Cancer Grand Challenges Initiative revealed that younger generations are aging biologically at a faster pace than their older counterparts, and this is linked to a higher risk of developing certain cancers at an earlier age.
The study also identified a connection between the biological age of specific organ systems and particular cancer types. For instance, aging of the immune system was found to be associated with an increased risk of early-onset lung cancer, while aging of fat tissue was tied to a greater risk of early-onset colorectal cancer.
“If we can identify young people with the highest cancer risk while they are still healthy, we can focus prevention and early detection strategies on those who would benefit most from early intervention,” notes Yin Cao from the University of Washington.
Biological age essentially measures how much wear and tear the body has accumulated compared to what would be expected based on chronological age, which is the age you have reached since birth.
For example, a 50-year-old who has been a heavy smoker for many years is likely to have a higher biological age, particularly in the lungs, than a 50-year-old who has never smoked.
However, determining biological age with a single value is not straightforward, as it cannot be read from a calendar. Methods vary, but they may rely on patterns of DNA changes, the length of chromosome ends known as telomeres, levels of certain chemical markers in the blood and other body fluids, or any combination of these factors.
For instance, PhenoAge, one of the methods used by Cao’s team, is based on measuring nine biochemical markers in the blood, such as albumin produced by the liver and creatinine, a metabolic waste product excreted by the kidneys.
While there is some debate in academic circles about the usefulness of biological age, the PhenoAge method, along with the Klemera and Doubal method (KDM) also employed by the research team, was recognized as the most reliable indicators in a 2025 review on the topic, based on their ability to predict mortality and track chronological age.
The researchers applied these methods to data from a cohort of 154,000 individuals from the UK Biobank, a long-term study involving half a million participants aged 40 to 69 enrolled between 2006 and 2010. In cancer diagnosis, a “young person” is typically defined as anyone under 55 years old.
This data was supplemented with information from approximately 10,000 participants in the All of Us research program by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which began in 2018 and is open to adult U.S. residents over 18.
The researchers found that individuals born in the UK between 1965 and 1974 had an overall biological age that was 23 percent (one standard deviation) higher compared to those born between 1950 and 1954, accounting for chronological age.
Standard deviation is a statistical measure that, in this case, indicates how much the younger cohort differed from the average biological age of the 1950s cohort when they were at the same chronological age. In other words, people from the younger cohort showed a slight shift toward a higher biological age relative to those from the older group.
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