Tobacco products cause up to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in the United States and are the number one risk factor for the disease.
Smoking cigarettes is the best way to protect yourself against lung cancer, but it is also true that not all lifelong smokers are doomed to develop cancer.
The vast majority of people don't. A new study adds weight to the idea that genetics has a role to play.
People who smoke but never develop lung cancer have an advantage. The cells that line their lungs seem to be less likely to change over time.
The findings show that some people are more active in repairing their genes than others, which can protect against cancer even when they smoke.
The genetic profiles of 14 never-smokers and 19 light, moderate, and heavy smokers were used in the study.
The participants' surface cells were collected from their lungs.
Simon Spivack is an pulmonologist from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Of all the lung's cell types, these are the most likely to become cancer.
According to the authors, the findings show that the human lung is more prone to being damaged by genetic causes when you are older.
A new study shows that not all smokers are the same, and that tobacco smoke can cause lung damage.
After the equivalent of 23 years of smoking a pack a day, the risk of an increase in cell mutation rates is not as high.
Spivack says that the heaviest smokers did not have the highest burden.
Our data suggests that these individuals may have survived for so long because they were able to suppress further mutation accumulation. These people have very proficient systems for repairing DNA damage or smoking cessation.
The findings could help explain why a lot of smokers never get lung cancer. Some people who never smoke do develop tumors.
If the body can repair damage to the DNA or reduce the amount of tobacco smoke in the air, then lung cancer can be prevented.
In previous research, the silencing of repair genes has been associated with tumor development.
Genes aren't the only factors affecting a person's cancer risk. Environmental factors like diet can affect the growth of tumors.
New findings suggest that lung cancer development is related to the process of repairing DNA, which is still up for debate.
Jan Vijg, a geneticist, says that they want to develop new tests that can measure someone's capacity for DNA repair or detoxification, which could offer a new way to assess one's risk for lung cancer.
Nature published the study.
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