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Early-Life Mutagenesis and the Rise of Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer
Ludmil B Alexandrov1,2,3,4, Paul Brennan5, Michael R Stratton6
1Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Abstract:
Colorectal cancer incidence is rising globally among individuals younger than 50 years and remains poorly explained by established risk factors. In this study, we advance the hypothesis that early-childhood exposure to mutagen-producing bacteria contributes to lifetime colorectal cancer risk by imprinting oncogenic mutations in the developing colorectal epithelium, thereby initiating tumorigenesis decades before clinical diagnosis and redefining early-onset colorectal cancer as a disease rooted in early-life mutagenic exposure.
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