Can uniting ageing and cancer research help cancer prevention?

Ageing is inevitable, but its impact on health varies widely. While ageing is the strongest risk factor for cancer and other chronic conditions, some people remain healthy into their 80s, while others experience multiple illnesses in their 50s.

Lifestyle and environment are major drivers of this variation. An analysis by the Health Foundation found that in Blackpool, one of England’s most socioeconomically deprived areas, boys born in 2016–18 can expect 18.6 fewer years of healthy life and eight fewer years of total life than those born in affluent Richmond-upon-Thames. Our genetics can also influence the rate at which we age, often by influencing how the body responds to environmental factors. Therefore, ageing can be seen as a biological process of gradual deterioration shaped by many influences over time.

Building healthier societies and reducing socioeconomic inequalities will always remain fundamental to healthy ageing. But uncovering why age-related diseases emerge in some individuals and not others could provide new opportunities for early interventions to extend healthy lifespan. This is not a novel concept and has attracted investment from both non-profit and commercial longevity initiatives, with the rapidly growing global market for ‘anti-ageing’ estimated to be $1.1 billion in 2024.

Deeper understanding from both fields…

In cancer research, prevention is also gaining traction. Detecting and treating established cancers will always be important, but preventing cancers from developing in the first place is the most effective way to reduce the health and psychological burdens of a diagnosis.

Yet cancer incidence in the UK has been rising since the 1990s, with cases in under-50s increasing 24% between 1995 and 2019 — more than twice the 10% rise in over-75s. The causes are unclear but likely involve shifts in diet, exercise, obesity rates and other lifestyle factors, which are also linked to accelerated ageing. Without improved prevention, the growing number of cases could overwhelm healthcare systems.

Preventing both cancer and other age-related conditions requires a deeper understanding of how social, environmental and biological factors interact to increase risk and drive disease onset. Because cancers often take years to develop, early detection of pre-cancerous changes offers a valuable window to intervene and prevent full-blown disease. Novel prevention strategies – from vaccines to therapeutics – are already emerging. For example, at CRUK we are funding research into preventative vaccines for lung, ovarian and Lynch syndrome-related cancers, alongside other projects through our Biology to Prevention scheme aimed at disrupting the pathways leading to early cancer development.

Despite this progress, most cancer research still focuses on advanced disease. The biological transition from normal to pre-cancerous tissue remains underexplored. Ageing research, by contrast, has long studied normal tissue decline, but often without a specific focus on cancer or enabling prevention. Closer collaboration between these fields — sharing data, cohorts and expertise — could generate new insights and prevention strategies.

A new era?

That’s why CRUK has made the relationship between ageing and cancer a central theme of our prevention research strategy. We have already hosted interdisciplinary workshops and conference sessions, and in September we will join the British Society for Research on Ageing’s conference on the Biology of Ageing. We are also supporting work on an ambitious scale through our new £20 million Cancer Grand Challenge on “Cancer Avoidance” — aiming to understand why some high-risk populations, or the very elderly, avoid developing cancer altogether.

The potential of ageing–cancer collaboration extends beyond oncology. Many age-related diseases, from Alzheimer’s to diabetes and cardiovascular disease, could share underlying mechanisms. Joint research could yield solutions that prevent multiple conditions simultaneously. For example, there are indications that GLP-1 agonists, best known for obesity treatment, may also reduce risks for other chronic diseases.

There is a lot of work still to do, but we could be on the cusp of an era where we have a new range of tools to deliver healthier, longer lives – not just free from cancer, but from a broad range of age-related diseases.