New research identifies specific teenage and young adult cancers
March 2006Professor Jillian Birch of the School of Medicine has analysed new data from more than 16 million cancer cases, and discovered specific cancers most likely to affect teenagers and young adults.
She told an international conference on teenage and young adult cancer medicine that one category of cancers seems to have a peak incidence between the ages of 13 and 24. “These can be regarded as ‘true’ teenage and young adult cancers, rather than the tail-end of childhood cancers or the early development of cancers typical of older ages,” she said.
The category includes Hodgkin lymphoma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, certain rare soft-tissue sarcomas, germ cell tumours of the testis and ovary, and germ cell tumours in the brain. Identifying this pattern has implications for understanding the causes of ‘teenage and young adult cancers’, which was not previously believed to be a distinct group.
“There is quite a lot of evidence suggesting that the pattern and timing of infections are causally involved in Hodgkin lymphoma for example,” Professor Birch continued. “Osteosarcoma, a tumour predominantly of the long bones of the legs and arms, and Ewing sarcoma have pronounced peaks of incidence during teenage years, coinciding with the adolescent growth-spurt. It seems possible that pre-cancerous genetic changes occur in the bone tissue during childhood and, during periods of rapid growth, further genetic damage converts pre-malignant cells to malignant.”
“Although most ovarian cancers peak over the age of 60, our analysis has demonstrated that germ cell tumours of the ovary as well as the brain are most frequent in older teenagers. Again it seems that factors affecting growth and development are implicated.”
Although cancer is the leading cause of death in teenagers and young adults after accidents, there are only about 1,900 new cases each year in the UK, spread across all the types. “This means that to develop our ideas and make progress in prevention and treatment, we need large-scale, international studies,” she concluded.
