2023-11-05 03:58:00
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Non-smokers can also get lung cancer. A study has now examined the reasons for this. (Symbolic photo) © UIG/Imago
Non-smokers can also get lung cancer. A new study reveals why this is the case.
London – Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in Germany. According to the German Cancer Research Center (dkfz), lung tumors are the second most common type of cancer in men. Only breast and colon cancer are more common in women.
But while smoking is one of the main risk factors for lung cancer, non-smokers also develop the deadly type of cancer. A research team in Great Britain has now presented an explanation as to why this is the case.
WomenMen Breast cancer (30 percent) Prostate cancer (24.6 percent) Colon cancer (11.5 percent) Lung cancer (13.3 percent) Lung cancer (9.4 percent) Colon cancer (12.8 percent) Source: German Cancer Research Center
Lung cancer: Why do non-smokers also get it?
Researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and University College London used patient records, animal experiments and sample collection to investigate how lung cancer is linked to air pollution from exhaust gases produced by the combustion of fossil fuels. They presented the results of their study, which has not yet been published in a specialist journal, at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Paris.
A connection between air pollution and an increased risk of lung cancer has long been suspected. “But we didn’t really know whether the pollution directly causes lung cancer – and if so, how,” explained cancer researcher Charles Swanton and co-author of the study to the AFP news agency.
Cancer in the lungs: What role air pollution plays in the development of tumors
Swanton and his team evaluated the records of more than 460,000 patients in England, South Korea and Taiwan. The analysis showed that people who are increasingly exposed to air pollution with fine dust with a particle size of PM2.5 have an increased risk of mutations in the EGFR gene. In the laboratory, his research team demonstrated in mice that the PM2.5 particles caused changes to the EGFR gene and the KRAS gene, both of which are associated with lung cancer.
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Ultimately, the research team examined nearly 250 samples from lungs of people who had never been exposed to air pollution or tobacco smoke. Although their lungs were healthy, mutations in the EGFR gene were found in 18 percent of the samples and mutations in the KRAS gene in 33 percent.
“They just sit there,” Swanton said of the genetic changes, which he says increase with age. “On their own, they are probably not enough to cause cancer.” But if a cell is exposed to air pollution, for example, this can trigger “a wound healing reaction” with inflammatory processes, Swanton described. If the affected cell is affected by a corresponding gene mutation, cancer develops. But how does lung cancer appear in people who don’t smoke?
Lung cancer symptoms in non-smokers: Are there other signs? CDC clarifies
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA, lung cancer in smokers is no different from that experienced by non-smokers. The following symptoms can: according to the CDC appear:
Cough that gets worse or doesn’t go awayChest painShortness of breathWheezingBloody coughSevere tiredness and fatigueWeight loss with no known cause
Lung cancer: Research team also develops approach for cancer prevention
In addition to the explanation for the development of lung cancer, Swanton and his colleagues also developed an approach for preventing lung cancer. In an experiment with mice, they showed that the messenger substance interleukin 1 beta, which triggers the inflammatory process, can be stopped by an antibody. This can prevent lung cancer from developing in advance. A new cancer drug might also make the treatment of lung cancer easier. The drug is already approved in the USA. (slo/AFP)
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