Elucidating the immunometabolic and genomic characteristics in young onset gastroesophageal cancers.

Cancer of the digestive system is on the rise in people under 50-years of age. Usually, these patients present with disease that has already spread and they do not survive as long as older patients. Unfortunately, we do not fully understand the reasons behind this.

Scientists believe that this is caused by inherited changes in our DNA that places them and their families at increased risk. This is an urgent medical problem as research predicts we will see more cases of stomach cancer in young people. In this project, we will clarify if there are more cases seen in these patients on the entire island of Ireland.

We will look for genetic differences compared to older adults. Lastly, we will look at pieces of tumour from patients with stomach cancer to better understand the tumour behaviour. We will look at how they produce their energy and how they communicate with the cancer fighting immune cells. This project focuses on finding properties of the tumour behaviour as well as its genetic and immunologic features.

We hope to use this new knowledge to develop new tools, to improve the treatment and management of this young cancer patient group.