Epigenetic age would be a risk factor for developing a Cancer, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal EBioMedicine. Calculated using a mathematical equation for measuring 71 DNA markers from a blood sample, it indicates our biological age. If it differs by 2 years from our chronological age, it would predict a risk of cancer.
Early detection of cancer
Researchers at Northwestern University (United States) analyzed 834 blood samples, taken between 1999 and 2013, from 442 untreated individuals for a Cancer at the start of the study.
The study’s findings showed that for each increase in the one-year gap between chronological and epigenetic age, the risk of Cancer at 3 years increases by 6%, that of cancer at 5 years, increases by 17%.
Scientists have also found that participants who develop cancer have an epigenetic age that is about 6 months older than their chronological age. Patients who die from this disease have an age gap of about 2.2 years longer.
“The greater the difference between the two ages, epigenetic and chronological, the greater the risk of dying from cancer,” summarizes the study’s lead author, Dr Lifang Hou, head of the epidemiology department. of Cancer and Preventive Medicine at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine
This discovery could allow early detection of cancer. As food and environmental factors (pollution, stress) modify our genes, it would be necessary to take care of its DNA with a balanced diet varied rich in nutrients, minerals and vitamins.
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