NYU Grossman School of Medicine shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Colorectal cancer rates have fallen sharply in adults over 60, largely because of screening. In adults under 45, the disease has been climbing at an alarming pace. Something changed in a single generation, and it cannot be explained by genetics alone.
The latest episode of Behind the Breakthrough: NYU Langone Researchers Tell Their Stories follows Mia Petljak, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and computational oncology expert at Perlmutter Cancer Center, and her collaborators, including gastroenterologists Mark Pochapin MD, and Rabia de Latour, MD, FASGE, FACG, MD, colorectal surgeon Bashar Safar, MD, and environmental health researchers Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, and Vittorio Albergamo, PhD.
The team is investigating whether microplastics, now found everywhere from drinking water to human bloodstreams, may leave detectable mutational signatures in the DNA of tumor tissue from patients with early-onset colorectal cancer. If confirmed, those genomic traces could become tools not only for understanding cancer risk but for studying how chronic exposure to synthetic chemicals contributes to a broader range of human diseases.
‘The ultimate goal we are working toward is personalized cancer prevention,‘ says Dr. Petljak, ‘where we can screen your DNA, understand what exposures may have affected you, and ultimately estimate cancer risk before disease develops.‘”
To which Anirban Maitra, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professor of Pathology, Director, Perlmutter Cancer Center, added:
“Great video featuring the multidisciplinary team at NYU Langone Health led by Mia Petljak studying mutational signatures of early onset Colorectal Cancer and the role of environmental microplastics.”
Other articles about NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Anirban Maitra on OncoDaily.