Chemotherapy helps many women survive breast cancer, but new research suggests the treatment may also accelerate aging and increase the risk of premature death.
Patients taking the most aggressive chemo drugs could lose more than 9 years of healthy life due to aging, according to new modeling from Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
And the effects of drug-related aging may not be visible until later in life, the school’s researchers said Tuesday.
Chemotherapy, which destroys cancer cells, can also damage normal tissues in the body.
“This affects many aging systems, including increased numbers of senescent cells, which are damaged cells that have stopped dividing and are also resistant to cell death,” researcher Swarnavo Sarkar, of the Center’s Institute for Cancer and Aging Research, explained in a statement.
Female breast cancer survivors represent the majority of cancer survivors in the United States. But chemotherapy drugs that destroy cancer cells have other impacts, researchers say (Getty Images)
“Senescent cells secrete biological molecules that cause several aging-related diseases due to further tissue damage and inflammation.”
The modeling used years of public data to estimate chemotherapy-related aging in 400 million women aged 30 to 79.
The researchers also analyzed data on the relationship between chemotherapy and the amount of protein p16 is in the blood. The protein is a common sign of senescent cells. There is evidence that removing the protein could increase the lifespan of breast cancer survivors by reducing the number of senescent cells, the university said.
However, more research is needed to understand accelerated aging in breast cancer patients. Researchers are also studying whether additional treatment and lifestyle changes could help slow or reverse this effect and improve the health of survivors.
Possible recommendations for slowing aging include increased physical activity and prescribing medications typically used for other purposes that show promise in slowing cancer. Exercising more and taking these medications could reverse the aging effects of chemotherapy, researchers said, potentially helping millions of Americans.
It’s not just chemotherapy that is linked to accelerated aging in patients. Researchers are also interested in radiotherapy and hormonal treatments (Getty Images)
Female breast cancer survivors represent the largest segment of America’s 18.6 million cancer survivors, and that number is expected to grow. The number of female breast cancer survivors could reach 5.3 million by January 2035, 1 million more than in 2025, according to the American Cancer Society.
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the United States. There are estimated to be around 42,140 deaths and 382,640 new cases this year, according to the company.
Chemotherapy isn’t the only concern, and other treatments for breast cancer patients appear to accelerate aging with similar effects, Sarkar said, including radiation and immunotherapies. This is where researchers will focus next.
“We also plan to include information on survivor characteristics to help guide future conversations about individual outcomes,” she said.
Gn Health
