At Dana-Farber, Dr. Wolpin noted that about 10% of patients who come to the clinic will have an inherited pathogenic genetic mutation, which is a higher percentage than previously realized. “These patients, on average, present with pancreatic cancer at an earlier age than people who do not have germline-associated tumors,” he said. “However, the age differential is not nearly as profound as what we see for these mutations in other cancer types, such as breast and ovarian.”
Although the percentage of younger adults diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is still modest, it is worth noting, according to Dr. Wolpin. “The incidence of pancreatic cancer is rising across all ages, including younger individuals, and, therefore, having knowledge about this disease in younger adults is important. We don’t have the depth of data on this patient population in pancreatic cancer that we do in early-onset colorectal and lung cancers, but this is an area for substantial additional research.”
DISCLOSURE: Dr. Sung reported no conflicts of interest. Dr. Boughey has received institutional research funding from Eli Lilly. Dr. Weinberg has received honoraria from OncLive, Rafael Pharmaceuticals, and Tempus; has served as a consultant or advisor to Bayer; has participated in a speakers bureau for Bayer, HalioDx, Lilly, Sirtex, and Taiho Pharmaceutical; has received institutional research funding from AbbVie, Ipsen, Isofol Medical, and Novartis; has provided expert testimony on behalf of AstraZeneca; and has been reimbursed for travel, accommodations, or other expenses by Boehringer Ingelheim and Caris Life Sciences. Dr. Oxnard is an employee of Foundation Medicine and has equity in Roche Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Costello has received research support from Celgene, Janssen, Poseida Therapeutics, and Takeda and has received honoraria for consultancy from Celgene, Takeda, Oncopeptides, and Karyopharm. Dr. Wolpin has received honoraria from Celgene and G1 Therapeutics; has served as a consultant or advisor to BioLineRx, Celgene, G1 Therapeutics, Genentech, and GRAIL; and has received research funding from Celgene and Eli Lilly.
REFERENCES
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Adult obesity facts. Available at www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html. Accessed September 20, 2020.
2. Ward ZJ, Bleich SN, Cradock AL, et al: Projected U.S. state-level prevalence of adult obesity and severe obesity. N Engl J Med 381:2440-2450, 2019.
3. Sung H, Siegel RL, Rosenberg PS, et al: Emerging cancer trends among young adults in the USA: Analysis of a population-based cancer registry. Lancet Public Health 4:e137-e147, 2019.
4. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Sauer AG, et al: Colorectal cancer statistics, 2020. CA Cancer J Clin 70:145-164, 2020.
5. American Cancer Society: How common is breast cancer? Available at www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/about/how-common-is-breast-cancer.html. Accessed September 20, 2020.
6. Murphy BL, Day CN, Hoskin TL, et al: Adolescents and young adults with breast cancer have more aggressive disease and treatment than patients in their forties. Ann Surg Oncol 26:3920-3930, 2019.
7. Weinberg BA, Wang H, Geng X, et al: A comparison study of the intratumoral microbiome in younger vs older-onset colorectal cancer (COSMO CRC). 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Abstract 241 L19. Presented on January 25, 2020.
8. de Groot PM, Wu CC, Carter BW, et al: The epidemiology of lung cancer. Transl Lung Cancer Res 7:220-233, 2018.
9. Liu B, Quan X, Xu C, et al: Lung cancer in young adults aged 35 years or younger: A full-scale analysis and review. J Cancer 10:3553-3559, 2019.
10. Sacher AG, Dahlberg SE, Heng H, et al: Association between younger age and targetable genomic alterations and prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer. JAMA Oncol 2:313-320, 2016.
11. Fidler-Benaoudia MM, Torre LA, Bray F, et al: Lung cancer incidence in young women vs. young men: A systematic analysis in 40 countries. Int J Cancer 147:811-819, 2020.
12. American Cancer Society: Key statistics about multiple myeloma. Available at www.cancer.org/cancer/multiple-myeloma/about/key-statistics.html. Accessed September 20, 2020.
13. Costello CL: Multiple myeloma in patients under 40 years old is associated with high-risk features and worse outcomes. Blood 122:5359, 2013.
###
18