Scientific rationale
The incidence of early-onset solid cancers, commonly defined as cancers diagnosed before the age of 50 years, has been increasing across multiple tumour types. While earlier detection may partly explain this trend, changes in lifestyle exposures and inherited genetic susceptibility are also likely to contribute. Early-onset cancers often exhibit clinical and biological characteristics distinct from later-onset cancers. However, current evidence is largely limited to individual cancer types, and a systematic population-based pan-cancer investigation is lacking.
Research questions
This project aims to address the following questions:
Do early-onset solid cancers differ from later-onset cancers in clinical characteristics and survival outcomes?
Are there shared or tumour-specific molecular features associated with early-onset cancers?
What potential aetiological pathways and risk factors contribute to the development of early-onset solid cancers?
Objectives and approach
Using UK Biobank data, this study will conduct a population-based pan-cancer analysis of solid tumours comparing early-onset and later-onset cancer patients. Incident cancer cases will be identified through linked national cancer registry data. Baseline demographic, lifestyle and clinical information collected at recruitment will be used to examine potential risk factors. Health outcomes, including overall and disease-specific survival, will be assessed using linked mortality and hospital episode data. Where available, genomic and other molecular data will be integrated, and genome-wide association analyses with post-GWAS methods will be applied to explore potential causal pathways.
This research is undertaken as part of the applicant’s academic training. The student applicant will act as the lead researcher, with academic supervision provided by X.H., and the project will be completed within three years.