Colorectal Cancer and the Two-Hit Hypothesis

One of the biggest red flags that a cancer diagnosis may have a genetic or hereditary component is being diagnosed under the age of 50. As our bodies age, our cells lose some of their ability to fight off diseases like cancer, so we expect these diseases to increase in frequency as someone gets older. But, when someone has a genetic predisposition to developing cancer, it’s easier for a sporadic change (suddenly, by chance) to result in the uncontained cell growth that results in a tumor developing.