SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A study from UC San Diego researchers has identified childhood E-coli exposure as a potential factor in increasing the risk of colon cancer in those under 50 years old.
The study says that early onset colon cancer, or cases in people under 50, has doubled in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Thailand and Russia. An international team of researchers analyzed cancer genomes from 11 countries and found an interesting link between the bacteria and the prevalence of cases.
Their findings point to certain strains of Escherichia coli that produce a toxin called colibactin, which is capable of mutating DNA. These mutations were 3.3 times more common in early-onset colon cancer patients than in those over 70.
Researchers were able to track these mutations to the first 10 years of patients’ lives, indicating childhood exposure to the bacteria is a key factor.
“If someone acquires one of these driver mutations by the time they’re 10 years old, they could be decades ahead of schedule for developing colorectal cancer, getting it at age 40 instead of 60,” said study senior author Ludmil Alexandrov, professor in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UC San Diego.
Liezel Labios with UCSD Today writes that colorectal cancer rates have roughly doubled in each of the last two decades, and it could be a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in young adults by 2030.
Alexandrov says that while these findings provide strong evidence to support their hypothesis, further research is necessary.
A significant portion of the researchers' funding came from the U.S. National Institute of Health, and Alexandrov says proposed budget cuts could put his work at risk.
“If NIH funding cuts impact our ability to do this work, that will be, in my opinion, a substantial hit to cancer research not just in the U.S., but globally,” said Alexandrov. “Our funding has allowed us to collaborate with cancer researchers around the world, collecting and analyzing large datasets from patient samples in multiple countries. That kind of scale is what makes discoveries like this possible.”
