Following breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, biological aging of patients is accelerated, according to a study published in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Jacob K. Kresovich, PhD, and colleagues used data from the prospective Sister Study, which identified environmental and biological factors that contribute to breast cancer risk and survival. DNA methylation data were generated on paired blood samples and used to measure three epigenetic metrics of biological aging. Of 417 patients, approximately half were diagnosed and treated for breast cancer between blood draws, whereas the other half remained breast cancer–free. After adjusting for biological aging metrics and covariates, women with breast cancer had higher biological aging at the second blood draw than cancer-free women. Radiation exposure had a strong link with biological aging in case-only analyses examining correlations with different breast cancer therapies. “Breast cancer survivors have higher rates of various age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, and experience faster physical and cognitive decline than women without a history of breast cancer,” said Dr. Kresovich and colleagues.
