Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
PURPOSE: The incidence rates of colorectal cancers are increasing in young adults. The objective of this study was to investigate genomic differences between tumor samples collected from younger and older patients with colorectal cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: DNA was extracted from 18,218 clinical specimens, followed by hybridization capture of 3,769 exons from 403 cancer-related genes and 47 introns of 19 genes commonly rearranged in cancer. Genomic alterations (GA) were determined, and association with patient age and microsatellite stable/microsatellite instability high (MSS/MSI-H) status established. RESULTS: (FDR < 0.01), and KRAS (FDR < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Tumors from younger and older patients with colorectal cancer demonstrated similar overall rates of genomic alteration. However, differences were noted in several genes relevant to biology and response to therapy. Further study will need to be conducted to determine whether the differences in gene alteration rates can be leveraged to provide personalized therapies for young patients with early-onset sporadic colorectal cancer.
Lieu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.