Overview
- Young mice had about three times the lung cancer burden, tumor count, and tumor size compared with old mice 15 weeks after tumor induction.
- Disabling 25 tumor-suppressor genes produced stronger pro-tumor effects in young animals overall, with PTEN loss showing the most pronounced age difference.
- Gene-expression patterns linked to aging persisted in cancers from old mice, but PTEN-deficient tumors in old mice lost those aging signatures and resembled younger tumors.
- The authors argue that preclinical cancer models should include aging and suggest that mutation effects and targeted therapy responses may vary by patient age.
- The peer-reviewed study, published Nov. 4 in Nature Aging and led by Stanford researchers with NIH and other support, aligns with human data showing cancer incidence plateaus or declines after about age 85.