P2142 - Comparison of Pro-Inflammatory Circulating Biomarkers Between Early vs Later Onset Colorectal Cancer: Results From the ColoCare Study

Elizabeth Tower, MD¹, Kevin Ng, MSc², Tengda Lin, MPH, MA³, Kelly Santuci, BS⁴, Cornelia M. Ulrich, MS, PhD⁴, Adetunji Toriola, MD, PhD⁵, Ted Gooley, PhD², Christopher I. Li, MD, PhD², David Shibata, MD⁶, Jennifer Ose, MSc, PhD³, Doratha Byrd, PhD, MPH⁷, Jane C. Figueiredo, PhD⁸, Sheetal Hardikar, MBBS, PhD, MPH⁴, Biljana Gigic, PhD⁹, Caroline Himbert, PhD³, Christy Warby, BA³, William M.. Grady, MD^2
1University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA; ²Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA; ³University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; ⁴Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT; ⁵Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO; ⁶University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; ⁷Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; ⁸Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA; ⁹Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early-onset colorectal cancer (eoCRC) has an increasing incidence in comparison to later-onset colorectal cancer (loCRC). Inflammation has emerged as a potential contributing factor to CRC, particularly eoCRC. This study examines objective measurements of a comprehensive panel of established circulating pro-inflammatory markers to assess the correlation between these markers’ levels and age at CRC diagnosis.

Methods: A cohort of 744 patients was analyzed, 143 (19.2%) diagnosed with CRC before age 50 (eoCRC) and 601 (80.8%) diagnosed at age 50 or older (loCRC). Eleven biomarkers were examined: CRP, IL6, IL8, SAA, TNFa, VEGFA, VEGFD, sICAM1, sVCAM1, MCP1, and SDF1a. Linear regression models, both simple and multiple, were employed to assess associations between mean biomarker levels and age at diagnosis, adjusting for potential confounders, consisting of smoking status, tumor stage, and BMI.

Results: No statistical difference between eoCRC and loCRC patients was observed in CRP, IL-6, IL-8, SAA, sICAM1, MCP-1, and SDF1a levels (p > 0.05). No significant correlation was identified between these markers and age of diagnosis. TNFa demonstrated a significant positive correlation with age of diagnosis (p< 0.001), indicating higher levels with older age. However, there was no significant difference when comparing eoCRC and loCRC directly. Significant differences were found for VEGFA, VEGFD, and sVCAM1 with higher mean levels in the loCRC group in both simple (p=0.02, p< 0.001, p=0.001) and multiple regression (p=0.045, p< 0.001, p=0.002).

Discussion: While no significant association was found between age at diagnosis and certain pro-inflammatory biomarkers, significant differences were observed for VEGFA, VEGFD, and sVCAM1. These findings suggest age-related differences may exist more prominently in angiogenesis related pathways in CRC patients, specifically increasing with age. This may be consistent with prior findings that VEGF levels correlate with poorer prognosis and risk of advanced tumor stage and metastasis in CRC patients. There is also evidence that CRC patients with elevated VEGF levels have shorter survival and higher chemotherapy resistance vs those with lower levels. Further research and analysis is warranted to investigate the prognostic value of VEGF in eoCRC, to better understand the treatment and clinical outcome implications in this specific and growing patient population.


Disclosures:


Elizabeth Tower, MD¹, Kevin Ng, MSc², Tengda Lin, MPH, MA³, Kelly Santuci, BS⁴, Cornelia M. Ulrich, MS, PhD⁴, Adetunji Toriola, MD, PhD⁵, Ted Gooley, PhD², Christopher I. Li, MD, PhD², David Shibata, MD⁶, Jennifer Ose, MSc, PhD³, Doratha Byrd, PhD, MPH⁷, Jane C. Figueiredo, PhD⁸, Sheetal Hardikar, MBBS, PhD, MPH⁴, Biljana Gigic, PhD⁹, Caroline Himbert, PhD³, Christy Warby, BA³, William M.. Grady, MD². P2142 - Comparison of Pro-Inflammatory Circulating Biomarkers Between Early vs Later Onset Colorectal Cancer: Results From the ColoCare Study, ACG 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Philadelphia, PA: American College of Gastroenterology.