In a new study, researchers examine the effects of cancer and its treatment on the aging process.
They found that expression of a gene associated with aging is higher in young patients with cancer after treatment with chemotherapy and in young cancer survivors who are frail.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Previous research has shown that a protein called p16INK4a, which slows cell division, is produced at higher levels by cells as a person ages.
Using the expression of the gene that codes for p16INK4a as a marker of age, the team examined immune cells circulating in the blood of young adult survivors of childhood cancers and of children and adolescents newly diagnosed with cancer.
The team first analyzed cells from 60 survivors and compared them with cells from 29 age-matched people without a history of cancer.
Expression of the gene that codes for p16INK4a was higher in survivors than in controls, representing a 25-year age acceleration.
Nine survivors were frail, and they had a higher level of expression compared with survivors who were not frail, representing a 35-year age acceleration.
The researchers also found that in the nine children and adolescents in the study who had a new diagnosis of cancer, expression was higher after treatment with chemotherapy than before treatment.
The team noted that elevated p16INK4a expression as a marker of aging may help identify cancer survivors at risk for developing frailty and functional disability.
Additionally, expression of p16INK4a may prove useful as a measure to study treatments aimed at mitigating the early aging effects of cancer treatment.
One author of the study is Andrew Smitherman, MD, MSc.
The study is published in Cancer.
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