A new study has found a link between early childhood exposure to a bacterial toxin, colibactin, which comes from some strains of E. coli and causes genetic mutation
The news comes amid the alarming rise in colon cancer cases — specifically among young people, who have historically been thought to be at low risk for the disease
The study author says if someone is exposed by age 10, they could be “decades ahead of schedule for developing colorectal cancer”
A bacterial toxin, caused by some strains of E. coli, may be fueling the alarming rise in colon cancer in young people if exposure happens before age 10.
The problem is colibactin, a bacterial toxin that can cause mutations and leaves behind a specific genetic fingerprint. An examination of the colorectal cancer genomes in 981 patients — with both early and late-onset colon cancer — found colibactin was 3.3 times more common in patients with early-onset colon cancer according to the study, published in Nature,
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“These mutation patterns are a kind of historical record in the genome, and they point to early-life exposure to colibactin as a driving force behind early-onset disease,” 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, said in a press release.
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Specifically, the exposure to colibactin happens in the first decade of life. “If someone acquires one of these driver mutations by the time they’re 10 years old,” Alexandrov said in the release, “They could be decades ahead of schedule for developing colorectal cancer, getting it at age 40 instead of 60.”
This year, the American Cancer Society released a report saying colorectal cancer rates among people younger than 50 have increased 2.4% each year — and mortality rates have increased by 1% per year.
One study from the National Library of Medicine found a “Western-style diet (rich in red and processed meat and sugar) increased risk of colorectal cancer containing high amounts of specific toxin producing E. coli bacterium.”
Related: Newlywed, 27, Lied to Get a Colonoscopy. It Caught Stage 4 Cancer — After Doctors Had Dismissed Her Symptoms
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The findings about colibactin’s impact on early-onset cancer, Alexandrov said in the release, “reshapes how we think about cancer.”
“It might not be just about what happens in adulthood — cancer could potentially be influenced by events in early life, perhaps even the first few years. Sustained investment in this type of research will be critical in the global effort to prevent and treat cancer before it’s too late.”
Read the original article on People
