A new study led by investigators at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has revealed that common breast cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, may accelerate the biological aging process in breast cancer survivors. The findings, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute , show that markers of cellular aging-;such as DNA damage response, cellular senescence, and inflammatory pathways-;significantly increased in all breast cancer survivors, regardless of the type of treatment received. This suggests that the impact of breast cancer treatments on the body is more extensive than previously thought.
"For the first time, we're showing that the signals we once thought were driven by chemotherapy are also present in women undergoing radiation and surgery," said study lead author Judith Carroll, an associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA, Endowed Chair for the George F. Solomon Professorship in Psychobiology and investigator in the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. While we expected to see increased gene expression linked to biological aging in women who received chemotherapy, we were surprised to find similar changes in those who only underwent radiation or surgery.
" Judith Carroll, Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences Advances in cancer therapies have greatly improved survival rates, with an estimated 4 .