When you have blood drawn in a routine doctor’s visit, some of the markers that get tested could hold unexpected clues to how likely you are to develop colorectal cancer at a young age, new research suggests.
Adults younger than 45 who had lower levels of two liver enzymes – aspartate transaminase, or AST, and alanine transaminase, or ALT – were more likely to be diagnosed with early-onset colorectal cancer compared with their peers in an analysis released Wednesday by Epic Research, which is owned by the health-care software company Epic.
“The direction was a little counterintuitive. Clinically, we tend to watch for high liver enzymes, so seeing that low AST and ALT were associated with a higher likelihood of early-onset colorectal cancer stood out,” said Kersten Bartelt, a clinician and researcher at Epic Research who worked on the new analysis.
But doctors say that younger adults with low AST or ALT shouldn’t panic and that there’s no change to colon cancer screening recommendations.
The new research highlights an association but does not mean that low levels cause cancer or that people should rush to get an early colonoscopy due to low levels alone. Rather, the findings – which have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal – suggest an area to investigate to better understand the potential underlying factors in the rise in colorectal cancer among younger adults.
