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Why are more young people getting bowel cancer?
New research seeks to uncover the answers by investigating early-onset cancer biomarkers to ‘predict, prevent, and personalise’ treatment.
With a rise in cases among people under 50, experts want to spread the word that bowel cancer is no longer just a disease for older people.
A year ago, the eligibility age for bowel cancer screening in Australia was lowered in recognition of growing rates of the cancer among people younger than 50.
Now, new research has been launched during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in efforts to uncover the reasons behind early-onset bowel cancer and better predict who is at risk.
Funded by Bowel Cancer Australia and led by the University of South Australia, the three-year research project is investigating how younger people are increasingly impacted by the cancer, and why a significant number relapse after treatment.
By looking at 10 key biomarkers as potential indicators of both the risk of developing early-onset bowel cancer and the likelihood of a recurrence, the team hopes to:
- identify people at higher risk of early-onset bowel cancer
- predict which patients are likely to experience a relapse
- help guide more accurate and personalised treatment plans
- reduce unnecessary treatments and associated side effects.
Project lead Professor Michael Samuel said while bowel cancer prevention and survival rates have improved through the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, the rise in early-onset cases – where first diagnosis is at under 50 years of age – is ‘a mystery we urgently need to solve.’
‘We don’t know why this is happening, and it is not restricted to Australia or higher income countries, but is being observed internationally,’ he told
newsGP.
‘Our ongoing project [aims] to understand whether a suite of biomarkers that we have identified will be useful in predicting which early-onset colorectal cancer patients are likely to see a recurrence of their cancer following complete primary resection.
‘These patients are more likely to experience a recurrence than older patients. If successful, we hope to inform targeted management of patients likely to experience a recurrence and provide some peace of mind to those whose risk of recurrence is not elevated above that of the general population.’
According to Bowel Cancer Australia, the risk of being diagnosed before age 40 has more than doubled since 2000, and one in nine new bowel cancer cases now occur in people aged under 50.
Other recent Australian
research shows that people born in 1990 are up to three times more likely to be diagnosed with bowel cancer than those born in 1950, with around a third of patients who have their bowel cancer surgically removed have the cancer return.
The relapse rate for people diagnosed with early-onset bowel cancer is around 50%, the University of South Australia research team adds, with a 50% chance the cancer will also spread to other organs following initial intervention such as surgery to remove the primary cancer. This is compared to around 30% in people diagnosed with late-onset bowel cancer.
But currently there is no way to predict who’s at risk, Professor Samuel says, meaning that patients may undergo ‘intense monitoring and therapy that they might not need’, while others who opt out may have a potentially preventable relapse.
‘It’s not good enough,’ he said. ‘We need tools to predict, prevent, and personalise treatment.’
Experts have
previously highlighted GPs’ role in boosting bowel cancer screening uptake and their
‘simple endorsement’ among any age group, after supporting the lowered aged for participation in the national screening program.
And with the investigation into the 10 biomarkers now fully underway, the researchers say it marks a step forward in earlier detection, smarter treatment, and better outcomes for bowel cancer patients of all ages.
‘We need to know the “why” around the substantial increase in younger people getting bowel cancer,’ Bowel Cancer Australia CEO Julien Wiggins said.
‘Investing in innovative and collaborative research across all aspects of early-onset bowel cancer has the potential to improve survival and/or help build a path toward a cure.’
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bowel cancer Bowel Cancer Awareness Month cancer screening early-onset bowel cancer early-onset colorectal cancer preventive health
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