Key clinical point: Biological aging was faster in women who were diagnosed and treated for breast cancer (BC) vs women who remained free of BC.
Major finding: Women who were diagnosed and treated for BC had higher epigenetic age acceleration metrics (PhenoAge epigenetic clock: standardized mean difference [β] 0.13; P = .04; GrimAge epigenetic clock: β 0.14; P = .01) and aging rates (Dunedin Pace of Aging: β 0.37; P < .001) than those who remained free of BC.
Study details: Findings are from a case-control analysis of the Sister Study cohort including paired blood samples from 417 women collected on an average of 7.7 years apart, of whom 190 women were diagnosed and treated for BC and 227 women remained free of BC.
Disclosures: This study was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the US National Institutes of Health. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Kresovich JK et al. Changes in methylation-based aging in women who do and do not develop breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2023 (Jul 19). doi: 10.1093/jnci/djad117