Genetic Susceptibility Increases Lung Cancer Risk: New Research

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Susceptibility of genes linked to lung cancer risk

New research published in the May 2012 issue of International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology, investigated smoking exposure and genetic factors in lung cancer patients (Japanese). Researchers concluded that susceptibility to genetic mutations, increase impact of smoking on lung cancer risk.

Researchers studied genetics of 716 lung cancer patients.
716 people without lung cancer formed the control group.
They found that certain genetic variants localized to a particular area of the chromosome 15q25 had an impact on effect of smoking on lung cancer risk.
However, these mutations did not have a direct effect on the risk of lung cancer.
Thus, researchers concluded that impact of smoking on lung cancer risk varies among smokers based on their genetic susceptibility or presence of mutations.
It was found that Asian patients with lung cancer had EGFR (epidermal growth factor) mutations.
Impact of genetic variants on 15q25 loci depended on EGFR status.
Authors feel that 15q25 loci should be studied further.

The authors of the study include, Dr. Hidemi Ito, Dr. Yashusu Yatable, Dr. Tetsuya Mitsudomi et al.

Lung Cancer and Genetics

Everyone is exposed to lung carcinogens, however the ability of our bodies to handle this determines whether we get lung cancer or not. While total amount of exposure is definitely one of the causes of lung cancer risk, role of genes cannot be ignored. Genes determine how susceptible our body is to carcinogens and genetic damage. Genes are also responsible for discerning capacity of body cells and selectively destroying cancer cells. Hence, individual’s genetic make-up contributes to susceptibility and resistance to lung carcinogens.

Lung cancer cells undergo a large number of genetic changes in them. It is common to find over 10-20 genetic mutations in them.