Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer

April 13, 2026 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
This study investigates the genetic factors that may influence the risk of developing colorectal cancer at a young age. Finding genetic markers for colorectal may help identify patients who are at risk of colorectal cancer. Studying individuals and families at high risk of cancer may help identify cancer genes and other persons at risk.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To define the clinical phenotype of young-onset versus (vs.) later onset colorectal cancer (CRC), including clinicopathologic characteristics, tumor molecular markers, family history, and associated lifestyle/environmental factors.

II. To examine germline genetic alterations in patients with young-onset (diagnosed between age 18 and 50), CRC and those of their first-degree relatives, in comparison to those in patients with later-onset (diagnosed at age 51 or older) CRC.

III. To determine the frequency of the mutations and pattern of inheritance of the mutations identified above in this patient population.

IV. To correlate molecular findings to clinical endpoints of survival and disease recurrence and/or progression in patients with young-onset vs. later-onset CRC.

V. To compare the treatments received by patients with young-onset vs. later-onset CRC and their subsequent survivorship experiences.

OUTLINE:

PATIENTS: Patients complete questionnaires over 30-50 minutes about work, family history, medical history, health habits, and experience as a cancer survivor (quality of life, well-being, concerns, types of health care, and follow-up care received). Active patients, who have undergone treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center within the past year, complete additional questionnaires at enrollment, 6 months, 12 months after treatment completion, and then every years for up to 6 years. Also, active patients who are consented to the study more than 5 years from surgery, they may complete the survivorship questionnaire once. Patients medical records are also reviewed.

FAMILY MEMBERS: Participants complete questionnaires over 10-15 minutes. Participants also undergo collection of blood or saliva samples once.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
818

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Conroe, Texas, United States, 77384
        • MD Anderson in The Woodlands
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • M D Anderson Cancer Center
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77079
        • MD Anderson West Houston
      • League City, Texas, United States, 77573
        • MD Anderson League City
      • Sugar Land, Texas, United States, 77478
        • MD Anderson in Sugar Land

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) patients who have adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum, diagnosed between ages 18 through 50 (young-onset), or diagnosed at age 51 through 80 (later-onset) and their family members

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • PATIENTS: MDACC patients who have adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum, diagnosed between ages 18 through 50 (young-onset), or diagnosed at age 51 through 80 (later-onset)
  • PATIENTS: Patient must have sufficient command of the English language and mental capacity to provide consent
  • FAMILY MEMBERS: Be a parent, sibling or child (first degree blood relative) of a registered MDACC patient meeting eligibility criteria above
  • FAMILY MEMBERS: Have sufficient command of the English language and mental capacity to provide consent
  • FAMILY MEMBERS: Family member must be at least 18 years of age at the time of study registration

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Observational (questionnaire, biospecimen collection)

PATIENTS: Patients complete questionnaires over 30-50 minutes about work, family history, medical history, health habits, and experience as a cancer survivor (quality of life, well-being, concerns, types of health care, and follow-up care received). Patients also undergo collection of blood or saliva samples. Active patients, who have undergone treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center within the past year, complete additional questionnaires at enrollment, 6 months, 12 months after treatment completion, and then every years for up to 6 years. Also, active patients who are consented to the study more than 5 years from surgery, they may complete the survivorship questionnaire once. Patients medical records are also reviewed.

FAMILY MEMBERS: Participants complete questionnaires over 10-15 minutes. Participants also undergo collection of blood or saliva samples once.
Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment
Ancillary studies
Other Names:
  • Quality of Life Assessment
Other: Questionnaire Administration
Complete questionnaires
Other: Medical Chart Review
Review of medical charts
Other Names:
  • Chart Review
Procedure: Biospecimen Collection
Undergo collection of blood or saliva samples

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinical and epidemiologic data obtained from medical records
Time Frame: Up to 5 years
Including age of colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis, gender, race/ethnicity, insurance status, tumor-related variables including location of the CRC, clinical and pathologic stage of CRC, histologic features including histologic grade of differentiation, mucinous histology, signet ring, and adverse features such as lymphovasucalar invasion and perineural invasion, as well as information provided from patients regarding their family history and their dietary, environmental and lifestyle information will be described using descriptive statistics. All continuous variables were described as median and interquartile range, and categorical variables as number and percentage. Comparisons between the young and the older cohorts were performed by using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables and Chi-squared or Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables as appropriate.
Up to 5 years
Identify polymorphism variants and/or new mutations
Time Frame: Up to 5 years
Will use bioinformatic analysis to analyze and understand the identified polymorphism variants and/or new mutations. Chi-squared test will be used to test for differences between the young-onset versus (vs.) later-onset cohorts for each polymorphism variant or mutation genotype, with odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals as estimates of relative risk. A tree-based statistical approach using classification and regression tree analysis segregating study versus reference cohorts will be used. Genotypes will be coded and analyzed for the additive, dominant, recessive, or codominant models.
Up to 5 years
Treatments received including surgical, systemic, and/or radiation treatments
Time Frame: Up to 5 years
Will be compared between the young and the older cohorts by using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables and Chi-squared or Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables as appropriate.
Up to 5 years
Degree of pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation in patients who received surgical, systemic, and/or radiation treatments
Time Frame: Up to 5 years
Will be compared between the young and the older cohorts by using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables and Chi-squared or Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables as appropriate.
Up to 5 years
Overall response
Time Frame: Up to 5 years
Will be compared between the young and the older cohorts by using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables and Chi-squared or Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables as appropriate.
Up to 5 years
Progression free survival
Time Frame: Up to 3 years
Will be calculated. Will use Kaplan-Meier analysis to characterize the shapes of the survival curves according to normal or variant genotypes and Cox proportional hazards modeling to evaluate the association of variant genotypes, allowing for covariates such as age and stage that may vary according to genotypes and need to be controlled for evaluate evidence for an independent effect of genotype on survival or time to relapse.
Up to 3 years
Overall survival
Time Frame: Up to 5 years
Will be calculated. Will use Kaplan-Meier analysis to characterize the shapes of the survival curves according to normal or variant genotypes and Cox proportional hazards modeling to evaluate the association of variant genotypes, allowing for covariates such as age and stage that may vary according to genotypes and need to be controlled for evaluate evidence for an independent effect of genotype on survival or time to relapse.
Up to 5 years
Quality of Life in Adult Cancer Survivors (QLACS) scores
Time Frame: Up to 5 years
Standard scoring menu for the QLACS will be followed to obtain domain and overall scores for the QLACS. Scores will be compared between the young and older cohorts using Wilcoxon rank sum test, and the p-values will be adjusted for multiple comparisons. Mixed effects models will be constructed to analyze changes over time. In secondary analyses, quality of life scores will be stratified by disease stage, site and status. Responder bias will be assessed by comparing responders vs. non-responders for patient-, disease-, and treatment-related factors.
Up to 5 years
Adherence score
Time Frame: Up to 5 years
For the survivorship care questionnaire, a summation "adherence score" will be calculated for each patient in terms of whether guideline recommended survivorship care was received by the patient. The "adherence scores" will be compared between the young vs. older cohorts using Wilcoxon rank sum test.
Up to 5 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Yi-Qian N You, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
June 7, 2012

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 31, 2030

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
August 31, 2030

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
August 8, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 8, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 11, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 16, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 13, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • PA11-0566 (Other Identifier: M D Anderson Cancer Center)
  • NCI-2020-07462 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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