The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in young patients is increasing in recent years. However, the difference of genomic landscape between younger and older patients with CRC are poorly investigated and has never been reported in Chinese population.
A total of 75 CRC patients were enrolled. All kinds of genetic alterations were analyzed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) with Acornmed panel.
Genomic landscape exhibited notable differences between younger and older CRC groups. APC and PIK3CA alterations were more commonly altered in older tumors (p < 0.05), while SMAD4 mutations tended to occur in younger tumors (p = 0.054). Notably, mutational distributions of KRAS in younger group differed from those in older group, and a higher prevalence of KRAS codon 12 alterations was potentially associated with young age (p = 0.076). Furthermore, the majority of patients (77.3%) harbored at least one clinically actionable alteration, and targeted genetic profiles between younger and older patients were significantly different (p < 0.05). Additionally, in patients with mismatch repair-proficient and mscirosatellite-stable (pMMR/MSS) CRC, tumor mutational burden (TMB) was positively correlated with age (p < 0.05), and a significantly association was found between high TMB and DNA damage response (DDR) pathway alterations (p < 0.05).
This study revealed different molecular profiles between younger and older Chinese patients with CRC, which provided novel insights into the personalized therapy in CRC.
Acornmed Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
Has not received any funding.
H. Wang, H. Cheng, T. Zhou, F. Lou, S. Cao: Full/Part-time employment: Acornmed Biotechnology Co., Ltd.