Issues

The surge of colorectal cancer (CRC) in young adults has been attributed to environmental exposures, such as changes in lifestyle, which, in part, act via alterations in the gut microbiome. In this study starting on page 29, Adnan and colleagues found age-related differences in the CRC-associated gut microbiome by analyzing data from several hundred CRC and healthy individuals. Their analysis unraveled distinct microbial-host interactions at the tumor site of early-onset vs. late-onset CRCs. Overall, findings from this study lend support to an age-dependent role of intestinal microbes in colon tumorigenesis. The cover image is adapted from Fig. 1 that exhibits fecal microbiome compositions and differentially abundant species between CRC and control subjects.