Epigenetic clocks show tumours age in opposite directions depending on cancer type
A preprint integrating DNA methylation data across 20 solid cancers finds that epigenetic age acceleration is not uniform — some tumour types appear younger than matched normal tissue, others older.
Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have posted a preprint on bioRxiv describing an analysis of epigenetic ageing patterns across 20 solid cancer types, using DNA methylation data from 1,710 samples drawn from The Cancer Genome Atlas. The team applied Horvath's epigenetic clock to 544 patients with matched normal and tumour tissue, then used phyloepigenetic reconstruction to trace how epigenetic age shifts during tumour progression.
The central finding is that epigenetic age acceleration in tumours is bidirectional: some cancer types exhibit accelerated epigenetic ageing relative to matched normal tissue, while others display apparent epigenetic rejuvenation. This heterogeneity across cancer types suggests that a single model of tumour epigenetic ageing is insufficient, and that the relationship between DNA methylation-based age estimation and tumour biology varies substantially by tissue of origin.
The authors argue that integrating phyloepigenetic approaches — which trace the evolutionary history of epigenetic states within a tumour — with clock-based age estimation offers a richer framework for understanding how ageing and somatic evolution interact. The findings may have implications for research into why older individuals face higher cancer risk for some but not all tumour types, and for the interpretation of epigenetic biomarkers in cancer genomics research.
This work is a preprint and has not yet been peer-reviewed. Findings should be interpreted with appropriate caution pending independent scrutiny.
Plain-language version
For patients, families, and general readers. Educational only — not medical advice.
Our cells carry chemical marks on their DNA that can be used to estimate biological age — a kind of molecular clock. A new research paper (not yet fully reviewed by other scientists) has looked at these marks in 20 different types of cancer. Researchers compared tumour tissue with normal tissue from the same patients and found that different cancers seem to 'age' in different directions: some tumour tissues look older than expected by this molecular measure, while others look surprisingly younger. This variation might help scientists better understand why the risk of different cancers changes as people get older. The research is at an early stage and uses data from a large public cancer database. It does not change anything about how cancer is currently diagnosed or treated. This is an educational summary, not medical advice. If anything here raises questions for you, please speak with your GP or a clinical professional.
Sources
Read the original reporting — these are the public sources this summary draws from.
-
Primary sourcePreprint bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2026-08-03Not all tumors age alike: Bidirectional epigenetic age shifts across 20 solid tumors