Cancer Science & Therapy

Molecular Basis of Aging and Breast Cancer

Abstract

Sandip K Mishra, Debomita Sengupta, Pranati Sar and Dharmendra K Bhargava

Age is one of the most important risk factors for human malignancies, including breast cancer. In relation to
increase in breast cancer incidence, aging can significantly alter breast cancer biology as defined by validated
prognostic and predictive biomarkers. Despite awareness that breast cancer and other cancers are primarily agerelated
diseases, molecular and cellular hypothesis explaining the cancer-aging relationship have only recently
emerged and remain clinically unproven. Here we review the series of key observations that has led to complex but
growing convergence between our understanding of the biology of aging and the mechanisms underlying breast
cancer occurrence.