Genetic susceptibility to both T2D and CRC, together with adiposity, may help identify individuals at higher risk of developing comorbidity, and integrating PRS with BMI may provide a useful approach for risk stratification and support targeted prevention strategies.
Individuals with T2D-CRC comorbidity exhibited higher polygenic risk scores for both T2D and CRC compared with controls.
T2D PRS showed a borderline association with isolated CRC risk in multinomial analyses.
BMI significantly modified the association between CRC genetic liability and CRC risk, with stronger effects observed among overweight individuals.
CRC genetic liability was associated with a higher hazard of transition from T2D to T2D-CRC comorbidity in multi-state modeling.
Individuals in the highest CRC PRS group showed a higher modeled probability of progressing to T2D-CRC comorbidity by age 80 compared with those at lower genetic risk.
This research suggests that people who develop both type 2 diabetes (T2D) and colorectal cancer (CRC) at the same time carry higher genetic risk scores for both diseases compared to healthy individuals. The study used genetic data from a Chinese cohort of about 800 people divided into four groups — those with both diseases, those with only one disease, and healthy controls — and combined genetic risk scores (called polygenic risk scores, or PRS) with body weight information to understand who might be most likely to develop this dangerous combination of conditions. One of the key findings is that body weight (measured by BMI) appeared to amplify the effect of genetic risk for colorectal cancer — meaning that people who were overweight and also had a high genetic predisposition to CRC faced a substantially greater risk than genetic risk alone would predict. Additionally, among people who already had T2D, those with higher genetic risk for CRC appeared more likely to later develop CRC as well, suggesting that genetic screening could help flag which diabetes patients need closer cancer monitoring. However, this transition finding did not survive statistical correction for multiple comparisons, so it should be interpreted cautiously. This research suggests that combining genetic risk scores with BMI measurements could one day help doctors identify which individuals are at elevated risk for developing both T2D and CRC together — a combination that tends to lead to worse health outcomes than either disease alone. While the study was conducted in a Chinese population and results may not generalize universally, the findings point toward a future where personalized prevention strategies could be guided by both genetic and lifestyle factors.
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Upload Your LabsLiu B, Xu J, Jiang C, Zhang Y, Wang X. (2026). Polygenic risk scores, adiposity, and disease transition in type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer comorbidity: a population-based Chinese cohort study.. BMC cancer. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-026-16806-5