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Review
. 2024 May 2:14:1366544.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1366544. eCollection 2024.

Obesity and early-onset colorectal cancer risk: emerging clinical evidence and biological mechanisms

Peng Xu  1 , Zuo Tao  1   2 , Hua Yang  3 , Cheng Zhang  1
Affiliations
Review

Obesity and early-onset colorectal cancer risk: emerging clinical evidence and biological mechanisms

Peng Xu et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) is defined as diagnosed at younger than 50 years of age and indicates a health burden globally. Patients with EOCRC have distinct risk factors, clinical characteristics, and molecular pathogenesis compared with older patients with CRC. Further investigations have identified different roles of obesity between EOCRC and late-onset colorectal cancer (LOCRC). Most studies have focused on the clinical characteristics of obesity in EOCRC, therefore, the mechanism involved in the association between obesity and EOCRC remains inconclusive. This review further states that obesity affects the carcinogenesis of EOCRC as well as its development and progression, which may lead to obesity-related metabolic syndrome, intestinal dysbacteriosis, and intestinal inflammation.

Keywords: EOCRC; inflammation; intestinal microbe; metabolic syndrome; obesity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Differences between EOCRC and LOCRC on clinical features.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association between obesity and EOCRC synopsizing the main clinical differences and biological mechanisms.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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