Shaping the future of early-onset colorectal cancer prevention.

Early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) under age 50 is increasing globally, with lifestyle and early-life gut microbial exposures linked to its rise.

• Why it matters: Understanding additional risk factors and their timing is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies tailored to younger populations, addressing a significant public health gap.
• What they did: The authors review progress and challenges in identifying EOCRC risk factors, propose a transdisciplinary framework integrating various sciences, and highlight global initiatives like PROSPECT to accelerate discovery.
• The result: This approach aims to translate risk factor insights into prevention strategies, emphasizing collaboration and public engagement to reduce the rising EOCRC burden in future generations.