Cancer Center Research

Aging and Cancer Research Program
Program Leader: Robert J. S. Reis, DPhil

Aging and Cancer Program: Goals and Objectives
The overall program goal is to develop a new understanding of the relationship between aging and cancer by examining both age dependence and the impact on cancer risk, progression, and outcome of mechanistically implicated processes such as mutational accumulation, telomere attrition, exposure to viruses or chemical carcinogens, and dietary/nutritional factors. Additional studies will investigate age-dependent alteration in the metabolism of cancer therapeutic drugs and quality of life issues among elderly cancer patients.

Aging and Cancer Program: Significance to the Field of Cancer
Many of the adult-onset cancers have striking age-dependence in their occurrence and/or prognosis — e.g., prostate, breast, oral and colorectal cancers. The Aging and Cancer Program is focused on aspects of cancer etiology that reflect its interaction with the aging host. These aspects may be mediated via diverse mechanisms, such as mutational accumulation, exposure to viruses and chemical carcinogens, decline in immune competence, and nutritional status. Other aspects of aging that are critical to cancer care include the age-dependent alteration in metabolism of therapeutic drugs, and the important area of symptom management for older cancer patients. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to fatigue and pain, symptoms markedly exacerbated by cancer and often linked to sleep deprivation and depression.

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Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
4301 W. Markham St. #623
Little Rock, AR 72205
(501) 686-6000