Early onset colorectal cancer exhibits characteristics that distinguish it from the late-onset form of the disease, according to a study published Jan. 22 in Clinical Epigenetics.
Researchers from Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine, University of California at Irvine and Bellaire, Texas-based Harris Health System's Ben Taub Hospital in Houston identified these distinctions to help inform treatment and prevention strategies, according to a Jan. 23 news release from Baylor College of Medicine.
Here are three takeaways from the study:
- Early onset colorectal cancer is more aggressive that late-onset colorectal cancer and predominantly appears on the left side of the colon.
Approximately 80% of all early onset colorectal cases have no underlying genetic mutations.
In the U.S., the incidence rate of early onset colorectal cancer is increasing faster and has a lower five-year survival rate among Hispanic and African American populations, compared to Caucasians. - Using data from the Cancer Genome Atlas, researchers identified epigenetic mechanisms associated with early onset colorectal cancers from Hispanic and African American patients that were not found in caucasian patient cancers.
"We found that early onset cancer cells had acquired widespread changes in DNA methylation," study author Lanlan Shen, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and nutrition and a member of Baylor's Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in the release. "This is promising because it suggests that treatments directed at restoring methylation markers associated with the disease might have therapeutic value."
Dr. Shen said the study's findings can be used to identify biomarkers of early onset colorectal cancer, which can inform treatment and screening options. - The study authors noted that more than 80% of patients included in the Cancer Genome Atlas are of European descent and only approximately 9% are African American.
The lack of data is a "major barrier to our understanding of diseases with disparities between racial and ethnic groups," Karen Riggins, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, hematology and oncology at Baylor, said in the release.
Read the full study here.