London - A woman’s breasts age faster than the rest of her, scientists have found.
By middle age, healthy breast tissue is between two and three years “older” than other parts of the body, according to a biological clock that shows the speed at which different cells deteriorate.
In women with breast cancer, healthy tissue next to the tumour is on average 12 years older and the tumour itself 36 years older.
By contrast, heart tissue in 60-year-olds was nine years younger than other cells on average.
Researchers at the University of California tracked chemical changes in DNA – molecules that carry our genetic information – to create the clock.
They hope the findings, published in the journal Genome Biology, will help provide clues as to why our bodies age and lead to treatments that can slow or even reverse the process.
“The big question is whether the biological clock controls a process that leads to ageing,” said lead researcher Steve Horvath, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
“If so, the clock will become an important biomarker for studying new therapeutic approaches to keeping us young.”
The researchers were unable to explain why breast tissue ages fastest, but suggested it may be due to hormone exposure during puberty, pregnancy and breastfeeding. - Daily Mail