Washington DC, April 24 -- An international team of researchers has identified a potential microbial culprit behind the alarming rise in early-onset colorectal cancer: a bacterial toxin called colibactin.

Scientists report that exposure to colibactin in early childhood imprints a distinct genetic signature on the DNA of colon cells--one that could significantly increase the risk of developing colorectal cancer before the age of 50.

The study was led by an international team of researchers, headed by the University of California, San Diego.

It was produced by certain strains of Escherichia coli that reside in the colon and rectum, colibactin is a toxin capable of altering DNA.

The new study, published on April 23 in Nature, analysed 98...