Epigenetic clocks don't just measure aging — they may be measuring cancer risk before tumors exist

Your DNA methylation age can diverge from your calendar age. When it runs fast, your cancer mortality risk rises 22-46%. But the really interesting finding: pre-cancerous tissues show epigenetic drift 3-4x faster than normal tissue, and this drift may persist for decades before a tumor appears. If epigenetic clocks are measuring the breakdown of tissue-level organization rather than just molecular damage, they could become the earliest cancer warning system we have.