In the last 20 years, colorectal cancer has doubled among young people and we didn’t know why. Now we have a track

In the last 20 years, the incidence of colorectal cancer has doubled in young adults and that has fired all alarms. Above all, because while this type of tumor shoots, we have no idea why.

Now, a study headed by Spanish researchers has found a suspect: it is called colibactin and a bacterial toxin produced by some strains of Escherichia coli.

The colorectal epidemic. The term is “epidemic”, yes. As Manuel Anse explainedthe alarm jumped in the US in the late 2000s: while colorectal cancer decreased in people over 70, growth rates in children under 50 grew at a rate of 1.5%. In Europe, the data suggests that it has arrived to grow to the rhythm of 8% Between twenty -year -old.

It was a huge public health problem. But, above all, it was a mystery. What could be behind all this?

The first track. In 2020, a research team from the Netherlands discovered that certain strains of Escherichia coli They produced colibactin and that toxin could produce cancer mutations In the children’s DNA. It was an interesting, promising way; But there were too many conditional in the idea.

Those conditionals are those who have tried to eliminate the investigation that It has just been published in Nature.

What have they done? They have analyzed the DNA of almost a thousand tumors of this type of 11 different countries (and three continents). Not only that: they have examined varieties, typologies and demographic features. And what they have found is more than interesting.

To begin with, there are two genetic brands related to the toxin in question that are 3.3 times more common in tumors of young people (compared to those of people over 70 years old). To continue, “they are especially prevalent in countries with a high incidence of colorectal cancer in young people.”

What does this mean? “Mutational firms are a kind of historical record in the genome; they point out that exposure to colibactin in early stages of life promotes colorectal cancer of early appearance,” Ludmil Alexandrov explainedfrom the University of California in San Diego.

Everything seems to indicate that the harmful effects of this toxin begin soon (in the first 10 years of life). That is, “if someone acquires one of these driving mutations at 10 years, decades could be advanced in the development of colorectal cancer and suffering from age 40 instead of 60, “explained Alexandrov.

It is great news. No, it’s excellent news. Insufficient, preliminary and still precarious: but if we are clear, it is that to contain the epidemic we must understand where it comes from. And, for now, it seems that it comes from the modern world.

“In the most industrialized countries there is an increase in cases of infection with this strain of Escherichia coliwhich leads us to think about changes in lifestyle “, Díaz Gay says in the country. How can we use it in our favor? We do not know, but we will discover it.

Image | JC Gellidon | National Cancer Institute

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