While the risk of developing cancer increases with age until the ages of 60 and 70, surprisingly, this risk drops as we approach our 80s.
According to RCO News Agency, Aging has two opposing trends in cancer risk. First, this risk increases in our 60s and 70s, because decades of genetic mutations have accumulated in our bodies. But after about 80 years of human life, this risk decreases again, and now a new study can explain the main reason.
According to SA, an international team of scientists behind the study analyzed lung cancer in mice and tracked the behavior of alveolar stem cells type 2 (AT2). These cells are very important for lung regeneration and are also the starting point for many lung cancers.
What emerged were higher levels of a protein called NUPR1 in the older mice. This protein causes cells to act as if they are deficient in iron, which in turn limits their rate of regeneration and limits the growth of healthy and cancerous tumors.
Cancer biologist Xueqian Zhuang of the MSK Cancer Center in New York says: “Aging cells actually have more iron, but for reasons we don’t fully understand yet, they function like when they don’t have enough iron and are iron deficient.” .
He added: Aging cells lose their capacity for regeneration and thus for the growth that occurs in cancer.
It was found that similar processes occur in human cells. NUPR1 protein leads to a decrease in the amount of iron in the cells. When NUPR1 was artificially reduced or iron was artificially increased, cell growth capabilities were re-enhanced.
This work potentially gives researchers a way to explore treatments that target iron metabolism, particularly in older adults. For example, it may be able to restore lung capacity in people experiencing the long-term effects of Covid-19.
The findings also have implications for cancer treatment based on a type of iron-induced cell death called ferroptosis. The researchers found that this cell death was less common in older cells due to functional iron deficiency.
This may also make them more resistant to the ferroptose-based cancer treatments that are being developed. So the sooner you can try ferroptosis treatment, the better it is likely to work.
Cancer biologist Tuomas Tammela from MSK says: “What our cancer prevention data shows is that events that occur when you’re young are probably much more dangerous than events that occur later.” So preventing young people from smoking, tanning, or other methods of exposure to overtly carcinogenic radiation is probably more important than we thought.
There is much more to be learned here about the effects of NUPR1 and how it relates to stem cell function, both in terms of healthy regeneration and cancerous growth, but these are important findings for fighting cancer at every stage of life.
As always with cancer treatments, there are many factors to consider. For example, the type and stage of the cancer, other medical conditions that may be involved, and, as this new study shows, the person’s age. The more we can personalize these treatments, the more effective they can be.
“There are still many unknowns about how aging actually changes the biology of cancer,” says Zhuang.
This research was published in the journal Nature.
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