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Gut instinct: a call to study the biology of early-onset colorectal cancer disparities

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence among individuals age younger than 50 years continues to rise with etiologies unknown. Synchronously, early-onset CRC disparities have grown more pronounced. As translational research across diverse populations has been limited, we advocate for mechanistic studies that address this challenge to mitigate CRC disparities among young adults.

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Fig. 1: Multi-level factors and domains contributing to early-onset CRC disparities.

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Acknowledgements

A.N.H. was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) K12 HD043483 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This work was also supported by the American Cancer Society (#IRG-19-139-59) to A.N.H., and NIH/National Cancer Institute R01CA229259 to C.H.L.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Andreana N. Holowatyj

  2. Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Andreana N. Holowatyj

  3. Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain

    Jose Perea

  4. University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO, USA

    Christopher H. Lieu

Authors
  1. Andreana N. Holowatyj
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  2. Jose Perea
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  3. Christopher H. Lieu
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Correspondence to Andreana N. Holowatyj.

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Holowatyj, A.N., Perea, J. & Lieu, C.H. Gut instinct: a call to study the biology of early-onset colorectal cancer disparities. Nat Rev Cancer 21, 339–340 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41568-021-00356-y

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