NOTTINGHAM.- A new study has found that Lynch syndrome, which is a hereditary form of colorectal cancer, is more common in young people in Indonesia, than in the UK, Europe or the USA.

The study, published in the journal Cancers, is a collaboration between experts from the University of Nottingham, and the Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and carried out through NICCRAT – the Nottingham-Indonesia Collaboration for Clinical Research and Training) initiative.

In Indonesia, approximately three times as many young people under 50 suffer from colorectal cancer (CRC) which accounts for nearly 30% of the total number of CRC patients, compared to the UK, Europe and the USA.

Lynch syndrome (LS) is a hereditary type of CRC that is associated with a younger age of patients with CRC. Detecting LS has been long reported to be a cost-effective strategy to provide aid in the diagnosis or management of the individual or at-risk family members by implementing appropriate surveillance for early diagnosis of associated cancers.

In addition, there are prevention measures, such as taking a low dose of aspirin, bowel removal surgery, and lifestyle modification (quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and diet control).

The team used the N_LyST (Nottingham Lynch Syndrome Test) developed in the lab of Professor Mohammad Ilyas, from the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, to examine the tissue of 231 patients with CRC from the Dr. Sardjito hospital in Jogjakarta.

Nearly 14 per cent of probable LS cases were identified from the samples, which is much higher than the percentage usually reported in the West, which is only around 2-3 per cent.

Dr Susanti, from the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, and the lead author of the study, said: “To our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal the potentially higher incidence of Lynch Syndrome in Indonesia.

“Using the simple yet robust PCR-based test developed in Nottingham, we are able to shine a light on the higher incidence of young people with CRC in Indonesia. This study will set as the basis of larger and multi centres study to examine the extent of LS incidence in Indonesia, including in the population setting. Hopefully, this will influence the changes in clinical guideline such as inclusion of the molecular diagnostic tests and new screening strategy.”

Professor Mohammad Ilyas, also from the School of Medicine at the University, and creator of the Nottingham Lynch Syndrome Test, said “This is a great example of international collaboration and we are grateful to the Newton Fund for facilitating this. These results were completely unexpected and raise some very interesting questions about colorectal cancer in Indonesia.”