Small air pollution particles can be behind the increase in lung cancer cases in people who have never smoked, with regard to research today.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has long demanded that countries take more difficult action to combat the plague of pollution, which is thought to kill 7 million people every year.
Now, in a new study that followed nearly 1,000 never-smoker patients on four continents, American researchers discovered that people who live in more polluted areas had considerably more cancer-moving mutations in their lung tumors.
Particles of less than 2.5 micrometer in diameter (PM2.5) – due to the overview of the most dangerous air pollutants – were linked to mutations in the TP33 gene, which explains most cases of lung cancer.
These particles are too small to be filtered out by our nose and lungs, which can handle larger particles such as pollen.
Researchers also discovered that people who were exposed to larger air pollution, had shorter protective DNA, linked to aging faster.
Experts today, who have labeled the findings ‘problematically’, said it demonstrated that air pollution was an ‘urgent and growing worldwide problem’.
Professor Ludmil Alexandrov, an expert in cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California in San Diego and co-author studying, said: ‘We see this problematic trend that never-smokers get more and more lung cancer, but we do not understand why.
In a new study that followed nearly 1,000 never-smoker patients on four continents, American researchers discovered that people who live in more polluted areas had considerably more cancer-moving mutations in their lung tumors
Symptoms of lung cancer are often not noticeable until the cancer has spread through the lungs, to other parts of the body
“Our research shows that air pollution is highly associated with the same types of DNA mutations that we usually associate with smoking.”
Dr. Maria Teresa Landi, a cancer epidemiologist at the US National Institute of Health in Maryland, added: ‘This is an urgent and growing worldwide problem that we work on never-smokers.
‘Most earlier lung cancer studies have not separated data from smokers from non-smokers, which has limited insights into possible causes in those patients.
“We have designed a study to collect data from never-smokers around the world and to use Genomics to trace back which exposures these cancers can cause.”
Although smoking remains the biggest risk factor for lung cancer, it is estimated that almost 6,000 people who have never smoked the disease every year die.
Although the smoking percentages fall, some studies show that cases in non-smokers increase with an alarming pace, doubled between 2008 and 2014 alone.
In the new study, scientists analyzed the entire genetic code of lung tumors removed from 871 never-smokers in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.
They discovered that the higher the levels of air pollution in a region, the more cancer -driving and cancer -promoting mutations were present at the tumors of residents.
PM2.5 was mainly linked to mutations in genes, including the TP53 gene that was previously associated with smoking tobacco, even after taking into account factors that could shake the results such as gender and age.
Studies have long suggested that PM2.5 particles can enter the bloodstream where they cause other serious diseases, such as heart conditions.
People who were exposed to larger air pollution also had shorter telomeres, the researchers said.
These are protective DNA strands found at the ends of chromosomes.
Telomeren tends to shorten the age, so premature shortening of Telomer is interpreted as a sign of rapid aging.
Writing in the diary NatureThe researchers said that the increasing levels of PM2.5 ‘can result from extra DNA damage to people who live in more polluted areas’.
Lung cells can also “undergo more cell division in polluted environments,” they added.
The research contributes to a growing number of evidence that suggests that PM2.5 is a significant risk factor for lung cancer.
A recent Meta-analysis In which 17 separate studies were involved, an increase in exposure to PM2.5 found the risk of lung cancer by eight percent and died of 11 percent.
Lung cancer Strictly about 50,000 people in the UK and 230,000 in the US every year.
It is the world’s largest cancer killer. It is notorously difficult to diagnose and often appears later when it is more difficult to treat.
Figures show that it kills four out of five patients within five years. Less than 10 percent of people survive their illness for a decade or more.
Despite the progress, a difference between genera is on the rise, in which women between 35 and 54 are diagnosed with lung cancer with higher percentages than men in the same age group.
#Experts #discover #alarming #culprit #mystery #lung #cancer #rise #neversmokers #British #danger