A recent study has shown that adolescents and young adults who have survived cancer experience faster aging compared to their healthy peers.
The study illustrates how aging accelerates at the cellular level and in brain functions, including memory, attention, and the ability to process information.
Researcher Anna Lynn Williams, PhD, from the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester, stated that ongoing research at Wilmot holds potentially good news: these young people may be able to reverse accelerated aging by quitting “smoking,” “exercising,” improving their “nutrition,” and adopting other healthy lifestyle changes.
Many cancer survivors, who received treatment in their childhood or youth, face challenges in completing their education, building their careers, achieving independence, or starting a family, and problems with brain “health” can make these things even more difficult.
What does the study involve?
The study included approximately 1,400 patients from the “St. Jude” study group, who had been treated at least five years prior, and some for decades. Most of them had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (“ALL”) or Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The researchers confirmed that cancer survivors age at a faster rate at the cellular/biological level regardless of the type of treatment they received in childhood, even if the treatment did not directly target the brain.
In fact, the results showed that chemotherapy, which can alter DNA structure and cause widespread damage to tissues and cells, significantly accelerates aging.
The team also discovered that cellular aging is closely related to brain function. For example, survivors with older biological age (compared to the age recorded on their birth certificates) experienced greater problems with memory and attention.
Williams explained that the goal for survivors who were treated with radiation directly to the brain is to prevent any existing deficits from worsening.
