Cancer is rising in younger adults. Faster biological aging may help explain why

Younger generations may be aging faster on the inside, a biological shift researchers have linked to a higher risk of cancers diagnosed before age 55. Credit: Shutterstock

Cancer is strongly associated with age. The longer people live, the more opportunities their cells have to accumulate damage that can contribute to tumor growth. But cancer is increasingly being diagnosed in younger adults, and each newer generation appears to face a greater risk than the one before it.

That trend has prompted researchers to investigate a provocative possibility: Are younger generations accumulating biological damage more quickly, causing their bodies to age faster than expected?

A study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis offers evidence that this may be happening. The team found signs that younger generations are aging more rapidly on a biological level than older generations did at comparable ages.

Scientists are still working to understand what is driving these changes. The question is being investigated through international efforts involving research members of Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, and Cancer Grand Challenges, a global initiative co-founded by the National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research U.K.

Importantly, the researchers also found that accelerated biological aging was associated with a greater risk of early-onset cancers among younger generations. In general, early-onset cancers are those diagnosed at age 55 or younger.

A Gap Between Biological Age and Actual Age

Chronological age simply measures how many years a person has been alive. Biological age, by contrast, reflects how old the body appears based on measurable changes in cells, organs, metabolism, and other physiological systems.

According to the researchers, cancer risk increased as the difference between biological age and chronological age grew. People from more recent generations tended to have larger gaps than those born earlier, suggesting their bodies appeared biologically older at the same chronological age.

That generational shift could help explain at least part of the rise in cancer among younger adults.

The team also found that aging did not appear to affect every organ system in the same way. Faster aging in specific parts of the body was associated with particular cancers. An immune system that appeared biologically older, for example, was linked to early-onset lung cancer. Older-appearing fat tissue was associated with early-onset colorectal cancer.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Researchers say measurements of accelerated aging could eventually help doctors identify younger people who face unusually high cancer risks, potentially allowing prevention or screening to begin earlier.

"Our ultimate goal is to decode how modern environments become biologically embedded to drive cancer risk, transforming prevention from broad recommendations to personalized interventions," said Yin Cao, ScD, a molecular epidemiologist and an associate professor of surgery and of medicine at WashU Medicine. "This brings us closer to identifying risk earlier and developing prevention strategies that are tailored to an individual's biology."

Looking Beyond Individual Cancer Risk Factors

Cao's team has previously studied numerous factors that can shape cancer risk over a person's lifetime, including obesity, metabolic dysregulation, alcohol consumption, sedentary behavior, poor diet quality and cesarean delivery.

Each of these factors can provide clues about why cancer develops at younger ages. However, no single factor appears to explain very much of the overall trend on its own.

That led Cao, who is also a research member of Siteman, and her colleagues to look for a broader way of measuring how many different influences may work together over time to increase cancer susceptibility.

Support from Cancer Grand Challenges has allowed Cao, as co-lead of Team PROSPECT, to investigate this question on a much larger scale.

For the new study, the researchers examined data from more than 154,000 young adults enrolled in the UK Biobank, which contains extensive biological, health, and lifestyle information.

They also analyzed more than 10,000 participants in the United States who are part of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) All of Us Research Program, an initiative designed to create a comprehensive health database involving more than 1 million people living in the U.S.

Measuring How Fast the Body Is Aging

To determine biological aging, the researchers, including first author Ruiyi Tian, a doctoral student in the Cao lab, looked at two different scales.

One was systemic aging, which measures aging across the body as a whole. The other was organ-specific aging, which estimates how rapidly individual organs or biological systems are aging.

For systemic aging, the researchers relied on established approaches that use clinical biomarkers, including PhenoAge and the Klemera-Doubal Method. They also used a metabolomic age score designed to capture age-related patterns in a person's metabolism.

PhenoAge, for example, uses nine blood biochemistry markers to estimate biological aging. These include albumin, made by the liver, and creatinine, a waste product removed by the kidneys.

For organ-specific aging, the researchers analyzed blood proteomic data, which measure levels of numerous proteins associated with specific organ systems. Those protein patterns were then used to estimate the biological age of individual organs.

The team calculated the average difference between biological and chronological age within each birth cohort. They then used standard deviation to measure how far each group differed from the overall study average. Standard deviation is a measure of how spread out data points are around the average.

Younger Generations Show Older Biological Profiles

The generational differences were apparent in both the UK and U.S. populations.

Among UK participants, people born between 1965 and 1974 had systemic aging that was 23% of one standard deviation higher than people born between 1950 and 1954, even after chronological age was taken into account.

Put more simply, members of the younger generation tended to have slightly older biological profiles than members of the older generation when researchers compared them at the same chronological age.

An even larger difference appeared in the U.S. data.

Participants born between 1990 and 1999 had systemic aging that was 92% of one standard deviation higher than those born between 1965 and 1969.

The researchers then examined whether these biological aging differences were connected to cancer.

Faster Aging Linked to Early-Onset Cancer

Greater systemic aging in the younger group was associated with an 8% increased risk of early-onset solid cancers. The strongest associations involved lung, gastrointestinal, and uterine cancers.

When the participants were separated into three groups according to their level of systemic aging, another pattern emerged.

People with the most advanced systemic aging had a 15% increased risk of early-onset solid cancer compared with participants showing the least advanced aging.

The association remained even after researchers accounted for inherited genetic cancer risks and genetic susceptibility to accelerated aging.

Looking at individual biological systems revealed more specific connections.

Advanced immune system aging was associated with a higher risk of early-onset lung cancer. Advanced adipose (fat) tissue aging was linked to a higher risk of early-onset colorectal cancer.

"If we can identify younger people with the highest cancer risk when they are still healthy, we can focus on prevention and early-detection strategies for the individuals who will benefit most from early interventions," Cao said.

Searching for the Causes of Cancer in Younger Adults

The research is part of Team PROSPECT, a Cancer Grand Challenges team co-led by Cao.

Cancer Grand Challenges is an international research funding initiative co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). It brings together scientists from different specialties and countries to investigate some of the most difficult problems in cancer research.

One of those problems is explaining why early-onset cancers are becoming more common.

"Right now, we don't have a definitive answer to what's driving the rise of early-onset cancers around the world, but studies like this are helping us piece together the bigger picture, showing that cancer may be influenced not just by changes inside individual cells, but by wider changes happening across the body as a whole," said David Scott, PhD, director of Cancer Grand Challenges. "Research on this scale is possible through Cancer Grand Challenges, which brings together scientists from different fields around the world to tackle these complex questions together."

Cao and her colleagues are now working to better understand why cancer is increasingly affecting younger generations.

A major focus is determining how changes in the environment, lifestyle and society may leave long-lasting biological marks on the body. Those effects could include accelerated aging as well as other signs that make some people more vulnerable to disease.

By tracing how these risks accumulate throughout life, researchers hope to uncover more of the biological origins of early-onset cancers.

The ultimate goal is not simply to understand why cancer develops earlier, but to identify people at elevated risk while they are still healthy. That could make it possible to move prevention and screening earlier and tailor interventions to an individual's biology, shifting cancer care toward stopping disease before it begins.

This work was part of the PROSPECT team supported by the Cancer Grand Challenges initiative funded by Cancer Research UK, grant numbers CGCATF-2023/100043 and CGCATF-2023/100037; the National Cancer Institute of the NIH, grant numbers OT2CA297577 and OT2CA297576; the French National Cancer Institute; and the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK. The project was also supported by grants from NIH/National Cancer Institute, grant number R37CA246175; the NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, grant number P30DK052574; the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center through the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Further support was provided by a pre-doctoral fellowship in the Cancer Biology pathway supported by NIH Molecular Oncology Training Grant T32CA113275 to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; the Pediatric Gastroenterology Research Training Program grant T32DK077653 to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, grant number UL1TR002345; and the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Journal Reference:

1. Ruiyi Tian, Xiaoyu Zong, Duo Ren, Stefani Tica, Daniel Hong, Oluseye Oduyale, Jason D. Buenrostro, Ramaswamy Govindan, Yin Cao. Biological aging and generational shifts in early-onset cancer risk. Nature Medicine, 2026; 32 (8): 2983 DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04448-w

Courtesy:

WashU Medicine. "Cancer is rising in younger adults. Faster biological aging may help explain why." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 September 2026. <www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2026 / 09 / 260913082200.htm>.

 

 

Scientists find a hidden cause of high blood pressure that routine tests can miss

A hidden nighttime hormone pattern may reveal one of the most commonly missed causes of high blood pressure. Credit: Shutterstock

A common and frequently missed cause of high blood pressure may be easier to detect with help from a wearable device that tracks hormone changes throughout the day and night.

New research published in Science Translational Medicine focuses on primary aldosteronism, a hormone disorder that may affect up to one in five people with high blood pressure. The condition is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other serious health problems.

Researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Manchester in the UK, the University of Bergen in Norway, and collaborators in Stockholm and Athens found that people with primary aldosteronism can experience bursts of hormone production both during the day and while asleep at night. Those nighttime surges are especially important because routine blood tests are rarely performed during sleep.

A Wearable Device Tracks Hormones Around the Clock

To capture these hidden changes, the research team used a portable device developed at the University of Bristol that allowed patients to have their hormone levels monitored continuously while living normally at home rather than staying in a hospital or research facility.

This type of continuous monitoring could reveal abnormalities that may be missed by conventional testing, potentially helping doctors identify hormone-related conditions earlier.

Study co-lead author Dr. Thomas Upton, Clinical Research Fellow in Automated Sampling Clinical Fellow at the University of Bristol, and Senior Clinical Fellow at Bristol Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "Primary aldosteronism is an important cause of high blood pressure and the most common cause of secondary hypertension we see in our blood pressure clinic. It could be affecting millions of people in the UK. However, due to the way hormones change during the day and the current complexity of the diagnostic process, diagnosis is often delayed or never made at all.

"In our study, patients were monitored at home during normal activity, and this allowed us to see how hormones changed over time in realistic settings. This approach could potentially revolutionize how we diagnose hypertension and ultimately reduce cardiovascular disease - particularly heart disease and strokes - that could have been prevented."

Measuring Hormones Every 20 Minutes

The proof-of-concept study followed 60 patients in Bristol, Bergen, Stockholm, and Athens over a 24-hour period. Hormone levels were measured every 20 minutes using a lightweight wearable device about the size of a mobile phone that attaches at the waist.

Because the device samples hormones from the skin, participants were able to continue with their usual activities, including sleeping at night, while researchers collected detailed hormone data.

The technology, known as U-RHYTHM, was adopted and further developed by the spinout company Dynamic Therapeutics in 2023.

Study senior author Dr. Eder Zavala, UKRI Future Leader Fellow at the University of Manchester, said: "By continuously monitoring hormones over 24 hours, we were able to reveal a previously hidden pattern of nocturnal hormone bursts. This gives us a much clearer understanding of the disease and could ultimately help doctors detect it earlier and treat patients more effectively.

"A more detailed mathematical and computational analysis of daily hormonal profiles could eventually also help uncover earlier and more subtle forms of the disease, opening new opportunities to improve outcomes for patients living with high blood pressure."

Why Standard Blood Tests May Miss the Disorder

Researchers used computational analysis to study changes in aldosterone, a hormone that helps control salt and water balance in the body. They also tracked two closely related hormones, 18-hydroxycortisol and 18-oxocortisol.

The results suggest that current diagnostic approaches may miss some patients because aldosterone does not remain consistently elevated.

Even in some of the most severe cases, hormone levels sometimes dropped below the minimum thresholds typically used to diagnose primary aldosteronism. A single blood test taken at one moment could therefore capture a period when hormone levels appear relatively normal.

Instead of remaining constantly high, aldosterone showed repeated bursts of secretion at night while the overall day-night rhythm of hormone activity remained intact.

Nighttime Hormone Bursts Offer a New Clue

The hormone spikes came from the adrenal glands and were especially pronounced in patients whose primary aldosteronism was caused by a problem affecting only one adrenal gland rather than both.

Importantly, the unusual hormone patterns disappeared after the affected adrenal gland was surgically removed. That finding provided additional evidence that the bursts were directly associated with the disease.

Study co-author Prof Stafford Lightman, Professor of Medicine at the University of Bristol and inventor of the U-RHYTHM technology, added: "The findings suggest that clinicians may need to rethink how they look for the disorder, which the Endocrine Society clinical practice guidelines now recommend should be considered for all people with hypertension, also known as high blood pressure.

"Future diagnosis could move away from single time point blood tests and towards tracking the body's hormone rhythms over time, particularly the overnight patterns that appear to hold crucial clues to disease. Further research is needed to define the best clinical pathways, using dynamic hormone measurement, to ensure early diagnosis of this common and potentially curable cause of high blood pressure."

Toward Earlier Detection of High Blood Pressure Causes

The findings raise the possibility that future testing for primary aldosteronism could rely less on a single blood sample and more on monitoring how hormones change over time.

Because the disorder can be treated and, in some cases, potentially cured, detecting it earlier could help reduce the risk of preventable cardiovascular complications.

The research was funded by EU Horizon 2020, the Trond Mohn Foundation, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Medical Research Council, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation, the Swedish Medical Research Council and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

The findings support the University of Bristol's research 'Grand Challenge' focus on Understanding and Preventing Cardiovascular Disease and builds on NIHR-funded initiatives aimed at earlier identification of people with hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors.

 

Journal Reference:

1. Marianne A. Grytaas, Thomas Upton, Isabella Marinelli, Paal Methlie, Marianne Øksnes, Dimitra A. Vassiliadi, Sophie Bensing, Georgina Russell, Kristian Løvås, Dimitris Margaritopoulos, Ileana R. Botusan, Katerina Simunkova, Maria Balomenaki, Katarina Berinder, Belinda Lombard, Thea Sjøgren, Ida Løvik, Bergithe E. Oftedal, Anette Heie, Grethe Å. Ueland, Olle Kämpe, Stylianos Tsagarakis, Stafford L. Lightman, Eder Zavala, Eystein S. Husebye. Tissue corticosteroid rhythms are dysregulated predominantly during sleep in primary aldosteronism. Science Translational Medicine, 2026; 18 (864) DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aeb7517

Courtesy:

University of Bristol. "Scientists find a hidden cause of high blood pressure that routine tests can miss." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 September 2026. <www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2026 / 09 / 260913081916.htm>.