Researchers have found that people under 50 who develop colorectal cancer have unusually rigid colon tissue that helps tumors grow, offering the first clear explanation for rising cancer rates in younger adults. A University of Texas at Dallas team working with UT Southwestern Medical Center discovered that both tumor samples and surrounding healthy tissue were mechanically stiffer in younger patients than in older people with the same disease.
Physical tissue properties appear to drive early-onset colorectal cancer, which has become the top cancer killer among Americans under 50. UT Dallas bioengineering Assistant Professor Jacopo Ferruzzi says this marks the first study showing how mechanical forces contribute to the disease in younger populations.
Emina Huang, who leads surgical research at UT Southwestern, calls the findings a major step toward identifying high-risk individuals and creating new therapies.
Colons work as flexible tubes, which push waste through the body via muscle contractions. That flexibility drops when collagen support networks in the colon wall get thicker from inflammation or scarring. Researchers tested tissue samples from 33 colorectal cancer patients during surgery. About two-thirds of patients were over 50, while roughly one-third were under 50 with early-onset disease.
Tests used microindentation, a technique that measures how much tissue resists pressure from a small probe. Scientists also examined how samples behaved under compression. Both cancerous and healthy colon tissue from younger patients showed scarring with elevated collagen. While collagen provides structure, excess amounts create abnormal rigidity.
Ferruzzi already expected the cancer tissue to be stiffer based on earlier research. What caught the team off guard was finding healthy tissue from younger patients also exceeded the stiffness found in older patients. Researchers concluded this rigidity creates an environment where cancer takes hold more easily at younger ages.
Experiments tested how stiffness affects tumor growth in early-onset colorectal cancer. Scientists grew cancer cells on biomaterials matching actual tissue properties. Cells in stiffer materials multiplied faster, proving mechanical rigidity drives aggressive tumor expansion. Patient-derived organoids, which are miniature tissue models matching the original organ, confirmed that cells grow faster in stiffer environments no matter the patient’s age.
These discoveries could lead to new prevention or treatment approaches for early-onset colorectal cancer. Ferruzzi says understanding how physical forces drive cancer progression opens paths to earlier diagnosis and possible therapies.
Scientists can now ask how to prevent cancer from developing in people during their 30s and 40s. Advanced Science published the research, which received partial funding from a $125,000 UT Dallas collaboration grant plus National Institutes of Health support.
Understanding the conditions that drive cancer goes a long way in helping to develop therapies that attack the disease where it matters the most. With entities like Calidi Biotherapeutics Inc. (NYSE American: CLDI) also undertaking their own projects aimed at advancing cancer immunotherapy, more is likely to be revealed about the different ways in which conditions within the body create fertile ground for cancer to develop and spread.
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