Aging Drives Breast Cancer Metastasis Through RAGE, Study Finds

The findings highlight a drug candidate already tested in Alzheimer’s trials as a possible add-on for patients on chemotherapy.

Overview

The Communications Biology paper, published Friday, reports that older mice developed many more lung metastases than young mice despite similar primary tumor growth.
Knocking out the receptor RAGE in mice almost eliminated the age-linked surge in metastatic spread.
Aging raised the inflammatory proteins S100 and HMGB1, which activate RAGE and make tumor cells more invasive.
Analysis of data from more than 1,000 breast cancers found that high AGER gene expression tracked with worse patient outcomes.
The RAGE inhibitor TTP488 (azeliragon) cut invasion toward aged serum in lab tests, and a Georgetown trial is now evaluating it with chemotherapy for safety and cognitive effects.