Bottom-up or Top-down: Inflammation Reprograms Paneth Cells to Develop Bowel Cancers.

The origins of colorectal cancer (CRC) have long been a subject of intense debate. Early observations noted cancer formation in the human gut slightly above the base of crypts, the structural and functional units of the regenerative compartment of the intestinal epithelium. This suggested that the cells of origin for CRC reside close to the crypt-villus junction, where more differentiated cells are located. However, the specific induction of early cancer-initiating mutations within differentiated cells failed to initiate cancer. The subsequent identification of long-lived Lgr5+ intestinal stem cells and investigations into their role in cancer development further shifted the earlier views, leading to the widely accepted theory that CRC arises from stem cells and progenitors located at the base of crypts. A recent study published in Nature Genetics by Mathijs P. Verhagen and colleagues challenges this paradigm, providing compelling evidence that differentiated non-stem cell lineages, particularly Paneth cells, can serve as a source of intestinal tumorigenesis, especially in the context of inflammation and the consumption of a Western-style diet. This work significantly advances our understanding of the CRC initiation process and provides a new paradigm that may explain the increasingly higher incidence of CRC in younger people.