Novel Insight in the Etiology of CRC: Genetics, Diagnosis, Management and Risk Assessment

Dear Colleagues,

Colon-rectal cancer (CRC) is the most frequent cancer. Germline variants with high penetrance in the APC and DNA mismatch repair genes may cause up to 5–10% of the cases, while as much as 30–45% CRC cases may have a heritable causative component.

Early onset CRC (EOCRC) is reported to have increasing incidence, and as many as ~18% of patients diagnosed with CRC < age of 50 years (EOCRC) have pathogenic germline variants in genes that are not traditionally associated with CRC, including ATM, CHEK2, BRCA1, BRCA2, CDKN2A and PALB2 genes. The causes for familial clustering of CRC in older ages are less clear. An increase in CRC incidence should be caused by environmental factors, including interaction between genetic and environmental causative factors. Comprehensive testing for multiple genes, both in families and in incident cases, is now generating new knowledge for these topics. Early detection of and screening for cancer may cause overdiagnosis. In addition to treatment of cancer, health care includes knowledge and public education on lifestyle, clean environment, and the inherited cancer syndromes’ medical genetic services. This should cover both high- and low-income areas. The current issue aims to increase knowledge for such aims.

Dr. Mev Dominguez Valentin
Dr. Pål Moller
Guest Editors

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