The role of aging in cancer incidence: an epidemiological study
Article Abstract:
While statistics show that the incidence of most types of cancer increases with age, scientists do not know how aging influences the risk of cancer. The aging of the body may not directly affect cancer risk, but instead it may be that the cumulative exposure to cancer-causing substances over time eventually leads to the disease in some individuals. This theory has been well received, because while aging is unavoidable, there is a potential for reducing exposure to harmful substances, and the implication is that cancer can (in theory) be prevented. But this attractive explanation may not stand up to scrutiny when data concerning cancer rates at different ages and in different geographic areas are examined. This article presents a review of epidemiological data on cancer incidence rates broken down by type of cancer, patient sex and age groups, and years surveyed. It is emphasized that such data are not easy to interpret, since many factors may play a role and obscure the relationship between aging and cancer incidence. The authors do conclude that certain cancers show a unique pattern of incidence by patient age (such as leukemia or those cancers most common in young adults), which suggests unusual mechanisms behind the development of these cancers. However, many other types of cancer follow strikingly similar patterns of incidence by age. The crucial question is whether the similarity in age-specific rates for various types of cancer can be traced to an influential environmental carcinogen (which might cause cancer in many different body organs) or the aging process itself, in which all body organs necessarily age. It is also possible that the aging process makes the body more vulnerable to environmental factors, and in this way the two mechanisms might interact. The authors conclude based on their review of the literature that the most likely cause of the increase in cancer rates with age is the aging process itself. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1989
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Development, cancer and aging: possible common mechanisms of action and regulation
Article Abstract:
Many advances have been made in recent years in the field of cancer research, particularly regarding the influence of genes on cancer development and the ways in which the body may defend itself against these processes. Data have also accumulated to suggest that cancer is mainly a disease of the aged animal, yet it is not at all clear how the aging process may influence cancer development. With some exceptions, most types of cancer become increasingly common with age. In animals, there is a sudden dramatic rise in cancer incidence when they reach half their maximum possible life span, yet most individual animals die of other causes before cancer can develop. A similar pattern is thought to have occurred in humans until very recently; primitive man seldom lived past the age of 40 years. Questions that are addressed in this review include whether the aging process itself causes cancer, or alternately whether the aging animal (or human) is more vulnerable to cancer-causing substances in the environment than the younger individual. A third possibility is that both cancer and aging are caused by the same mechanisms. When this theory is pursued, the issue arises of whether one main factor causes both aging and cancer, or perhaps many such factors exert varying influences on different body tissues. The authors review many topics relating to aging and cancer development and conclude that there is substantial evidence suggesting aging and cancer have common causes. Both processes may be begun and maintained by deterioration of gene regulation, and thus to reduce the rates of cancer and aging, mechanisms for enhancing normal gene regulation should be explored. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1989
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Comparison of the lateral diffusion constant of hepatocyte membrane proteinsin two wild mouse strains of considerably different longevity: FRAP studies on liver smears
Article Abstract:
The lateral diffusion constant of hepatocyte membrane proteins in two wild mouse strains of considerably different longevity were compared through fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. The decay of the average lateral diffusion constant with aging was about 2.5 times faster in the short-living Mus musculus than in the long-living Peromyscus leucopus. However, by the end of their life expectancy, the two strains exhibited the same lateral diffusion constant values.
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1993
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