Rally on Research: Early-Age Onset Colorectal Cancer

June 24 – 25, 2021, experts and patient advocates from around the world met virtually to share ideas and forge the path towards a cure for colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is no longer a disease that only affects older populations. Early-age onset CRC is colorectal cancer diagnosed in a patient younger than age 50, and commonly referred to as “EAO CRC.” These patients and survivors face issues specific to younger populations, such as sexual health and family planning, as well as impacts to their careers.

Virtual Workgroups: Day 1 & 2

Day 1: Patient Advocates

Designed to amplify the patient voice, this was an opportunity for patients, caregivers, and clinicians to discuss efforts and challenges to improve patient care for the early-age onset community.

Day 2: Research Priorities

Day 2 was a global research discussion among scientists who want to work together to advance research to understand and treat early-age onset colorectal cancer. This day was designed to ensure researchers and healthcare providers have time to discuss research needs and bridge gaps from a scientific perspective.

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Abstracts

Advocacy

COLONTOWN University: Novel CRC Patient Education Resources for Patient Empowerment

Nancy Seybold; Manju George, DVM, PhD; Susan Wysoki
PALTOWN Development Foundation, United States, COLONTOWN, United States

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Never Too Young: Early-Age Onset Patient and Caregiver Experiences in Canada

Elle Doherty, MPH, CHE; Iris Karry
Colorectal Cancer Canada, Canada

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Awareness Drives Preventative Screening Coverage for Employees

Michael Mancini, Patient Advocate, United States

Sharing Actual Patient Experience in Understanding, Searching, Matching, Enrolling, and Participating in Clinical Trials

Jessica Buscho, Patient Advocate, United States

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Raising awareness, challenging perceptions and motivating action to address Australia’s rising rates of early-age onset bowel cancer

Joni Thomes, Bowel Cancer Australia, Australia

Early Age Onset CRC & My Research Advocacy Efforts and Contributions

Wenora Johnson, Patient Advocate, United States

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On-Call Allies: A More Tailored Approach to Colorectal Cancer Patient Support

Andrea Bauer, Michelle Cappel, Vanessa Ghigliotty, Allison Rosen
Patient Advocates, United States

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Improving Quality of Life by Incorporating Properly Trained Ostomy Peers to Provide Education Support and Non-Clinical Care into Treatment

Debi Fox, Ostomy 2-1-1, United States

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Scientific

Majority of patients undergoing colorectal cancer resection 2010-2018 have not participated in colorectal screening programs

Carmen Fong, MD; Dimitri F. Joseph; Ellen Li, MD; Paula Denoya, MD
Mount Sinai Hospital, United States
Stony Brook University School of Medicine, United States

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Molecular and clinical characterization of Brazilian early-age onset colorectal cancer patients

Giovana Tardin Torrezan, Sara Iolanda Oliveira da Silva, Bruna Elisa Katin Kupper, Karina Miranda Santiago, Samuel Aguiar, Maria Nirvana Formiga, Dirce Maria Carraro
A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, Brazil

Familial Component of Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer in Europe: An Opportunity for Disease Prevention

Maria Daca Alvarez, Marc Martí, Antonino Spinelli, Marek Szczepkowski, Wieslaw Tarnowski, Omar Faiz, Kevin Monahan, Silviu-Tiberiu Makkai-Popa, Noel de Miranda, Claire Palles, Sirio Melone, Fernando Jiménez, Elena Hurtado, Marta Jiménez, IsabelPrieto, Araceli Ballestero, José A. Alcazar, Alfredo Vivas, Lorena Brandáriz, Irene López, Edurne Álvaro, Teresa Ocaña, Lorena Moreno, Sabela Carballal, Leticia Moreira, Maria Pellisé, Andreana N. Holowatyj, José Perea, Francesc Balaguer

  • Gastroenterology Department, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
  • Hospital Humanitas, Milan, Italy
  • Bielanski Hospital, Warsaw, Poland
  • Orlowski Hospital, Warsaw, Poland
  • St. Mark’s Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • West Middlesex University Hospital, London, United Kingdom
  • Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, Luxembourg
  • Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
  • Birmingham University, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital Galdakao-Usansolo, Vizcaya, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañon, Spain
  • Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario Ramon y Cajal, Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario General de Villalba, Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital MD Anderson, Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor, Madrid, Spain
  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
  • Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid, Spain

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Comparative analysis of tumor characteristics and oncologic outcomes of patients with early-versus late-onset rectal cancer

Sara Tamburello, Caterina Foppa, Michele Carvello, Luigi Laghi, Laura Poliani, Armando Santoro, Valeria Smiroldo, Cristiana Bonifacio, Marco Montorsi, Annalisa Maroli, Antonino Spinelli
IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, Italy

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Is early-onset colorectal cancer different according to disease location? Analysis of tumor characteristics, risk factors and clinical outcomes of 385 genetically tested patients

Caterina Foppa, Sara Tamburello, Michele Carvello, Luigi Laghi, Laura Poliani, Armando Santoro, Valeria Smiroldo, Cristiana Bonifacio, Annalisa Maroli, Antonino Spinelli
IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, Italy

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Characterizing the burden of early onset colorectal cancers in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Nicholas Matovu, Helen G. Coleman, Chris R. Cardwell, Ines Mesa-Eguiagaray, Evropi Theodoratou, Charlene M. McShane; Centre for Public Health
Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK
Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research
Centre for Global Health, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

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Sexual dysfunction among young adult colorectal cancer survivors

Julia Stal, BA; Serena Yi, BSc.; Sally Cohen-Cutler, MD, MS; Phuong Gallagher, BS; Afsaneh Barzi, MD, PhD; David R. Freyer, DO, MS; Jonathan N. Kaslander, MArch; Martina Anto-Ocrah, PhD; Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD; Kimberly A. Miller, PhD, MPH

  • Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Cancer and Blood Disease Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • The Colon Club, USA
  • Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, USA
  • Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Departments of Emergency Medicine, ObGyn, and Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
  • Division of Oncology, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Department of Dermatology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

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Genetic analysis of SMAD4 C-terminal domain in patients with microsatellite stable early-age onset colorectal cancer

Jovana Despotovic, Tamara Babic, Zoran Krivokapic, Aleksandra Nikolic

  • Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  • First Surgical Clinic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia

Establishing a Coordinated Clinical Center for Young Onset Colorectal Cancer

Melissa Lumish, Lerie Palmaira, Joseph Bacani, Asha Krishnan, Jill Weiss, Rosemary Semler, Anne Casson, Ashley Arkema, Jeanne Carter, Christian Nelson, John Mulhall, Julio Garcia-Aguilar, Zsofia Stadler, Robin Mendelsohn, Andrea Cercek

  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, United States

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Sugar-sweetened beverage intake in adulthood and adolescence and risk of early-onset colorectal cancer among women

Jinhee Hur, Ebunoluwa Otegbeye, Hee-Kyung Joh, Katharina Nimptsch, Kimmie Ng, Shuji Ogino, Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, Andrew T.Chan, Walter C. Willett, Kana Wu, Edward Giovannucci, Yin Cao

  • Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States
  • Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, United States
  • Department of Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, South Korea
  • Molecular Epidemiology Research Group, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Germany
  • Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, United States
  • Program in Molecular Pathological Epidemiology, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s
  • Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States
  • Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, United States
  • Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States
  • Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, United States

Methylated Septin9 (mSEPT9) is a promising biomarker for the early detection and screening of early-onset colorectal cancer

Holli A. Loomans-Kropp, Yurong Song, Manish Gala, Aparna R. Parikh, Emily Van Seventer, Rocio Alvarez, Megan P. Hitchins, Robert H. Shoemaker, Asad Umar

  • National Cancer Institute, United States
  • Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, United States
  • Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, United States

Genetics of early onset colorectal cancers

Helen Curley, Silver Makepeace, Sarah Briggs, Lynn Martin, Ian Tomlinson, Claire Palles

  • Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
  • Centre for Computational Biology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
  • Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre,
  • IGMM, University of Edinburgh, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

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History of the Event

In 2019, Dr. José Perea, a colorectal cancer researcher in Madrid, Spain, shared his vision for an international research symposium that would bring together the sharpest minds focused on early-onset colorectal cancer (also called EAO CRC) with Fight CRC. 

A strong partnership was formed and the inaugural EAO CRC International Symposium was developed. The initial event in Denver, Colorado hosted 45 attendees from 4 countries. From this event, the Fight CRC EAO CRC Workgroup was formed. In 2020, the 2nd-annual symposium became a virtual event and grew to more than 500 registrants from 17 countries. 

In planning for our third year, our vision grew bigger. We wanted to include the patient voice in discussions and build a bridge between researchers, clinicians, and advocates. We felt it was imperative to create an engaging space to listen and learn from one another. 

To reflect our vision and growth, we renamed the annual event to Rally on Research. In 2021, we will rally to continue discussing EAO CRC and paving a collaborative path forward. 

Watch the 2020 Event 

Resources

Organizations and Programs

Funding Entities

Thank You to Our Sponsors

International Advocacy and Research Partners

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