Copyright
©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 7, 2016; 22(5): 1736-1744
Published online Feb 7, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i5.1736
Published online Feb 7, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i5.1736
Clinical and molecular features of young-onset colorectal cancer
Veroushka Ballester, Shahrooz Rashtak, Lisa Boardman, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, United States
Author contributions: Ballester V and Rashtak S performed the analytic review of the literature; Ballester V, Rashtak S and Boardman L wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Lisa Boardman, MD, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, United States. boardman.lisa@mayo.edu
Telephone: +1-507-2664338 Fax: +1-507-2660350
Received: July 9, 2015
Peer-review started: July 9, 2015
First decision: September 29, 2015
Revised: October 25, 2015
Accepted: December 14, 2015
Article in press: December 14, 2015
Published online: February 7, 2016
Peer-review started: July 9, 2015
First decision: September 29, 2015
Revised: October 25, 2015
Accepted: December 14, 2015
Article in press: December 14, 2015
Published online: February 7, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Recent evidence supports that young-onset colorectal cancer (CRC) is a “heterogeneous disease”. Newly recognized molecular alterations implicated in tumor progression, appear to contribute to its heterogeneity. Young-onset CRCs are remarkably different compared to late onset CRCs. These differences are highlighted by distinctive histologic features, site of tumor location, stage at presentation, and molecular profile. These differences support the possibility that young-onset CRC may be a different entity than late-onset CRCs. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of young-onset CRC, will ultimately help individualize screening strategies and management for this high risk group.