Title: Why Do Cancer Rates Increase As We Age?
Headings: Why Do Cancer Rates Increase As We Age?
Why Do Cancer Rates Increase As We Age?
Content: Why Do Cancer Rates Increase As We Age? Why Do Cancer Rates Increase As We Age? Written by Grace Rattue on July 8, 2012
As we age, our risk of developing cancer increases, now researchers at the University of Colorado Cancer Center say that this is because our tissue landscape changes as we age. The study is published in the journal Oncogene. James DeGregori, Ph.D., researcher at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and professor of molecular biology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, explained: “If you look at Mick Jagger in 1960 compared to Mick Jagger today, it’s obvious that his tissue landscape has changed. And it’s this change, not the accumulation of cancer-causing mutations, that drives cancer rates higher as we grow older.” According to DeGregori, an individual already accumulates a large percentage of the mutations they will have during their lifetime by the time they stop growing in their teens. He explains: “ There’s a mismatch between the mutation curve and the cancer curve, meaning that if cancer were due to reaching a tipping point of say, five or six mutations, we should see higher cancer rates in 20-year-olds, as this is when mutation rate is highest.”