How breast cancer and its treatment affect long-term aging and physical function
Long-Term Trajectories of Accelerated Biological Aging and Functional Decline Associated with Breast Cancer and its Treatment
This project looks at whether breast cancer and its treatments lead to faster biological aging and physical decline in older women who survived breast cancer.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Kaiser Foundation Research Institute NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Oakland, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11180970 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you are an older woman who had breast cancer, this research combines decades of clinical visits, questionnaires, and lab measures from women in the Women's Health Initiative to follow how bodies change over time. Researchers will compare survivors to women without cancer and track frailty, physical function, and molecular signs of aging in blood, including epigenetic clocks. They will also examine whether different treatment types and intensity are linked to faster aging or greater functional decline. The work uses existing long-term data to understand real-world survivorship rather than testing new treatments.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Older post-menopausal women with a history of invasive breast cancer who received cancer treatment, particularly those enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative or similar long-term studies.
Not a fit: Men, younger women, and people without a history of breast cancer are unlikely to directly benefit from this study's results.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help doctors identify survivors at higher risk of early aging and tailor follow-up care to prevent or slow functional decline.
How similar studies have performed: Animal studies and smaller human studies link cancer treatments to molecular signs of aging, but long-term population-level evidence on survivors' aging trajectories is limited, so this approach is relatively novel at scale.
Where this research is happening
Oakland, UNITED STATES
- Kaiser Foundation Research Institute — Oakland, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Feliciano, Elizabeth Marjorie Cespedes — Kaiser Foundation Research Institute
- Study coordinator: Feliciano, Elizabeth Marjorie Cespedes
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.