Cigarettes are one of the leading causes of death, and smoking increases the risk of developing lung cancer by 25 times, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But why do the lungs of some tobacco users seem to be resistant to such ill effects?
The answer, British scientists report in research funded by the UK’s Medical Research Council, is that those men and women have favorable genetic mutations in their DNA that enhance their lung function and serve to mask the impact of the habit, according to BBC News reports.
Study authors Professor Ian Hall of the University of Nottingham, Professor Martin Tobin of the University of Leicester, and their colleagues, who have published their findings in the latest issue of The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, believe that the research could lead to the development of a new treatment for conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The research also identified the genetic differences which affect whether a person is more likely to get addicted to cigarettes, and could also result in improved smoking cessation methods, The Guardian noted.
Genetic variants reveal how lungs respond to damage
Using data from the UK Biobank project, the research team selected 50,000 participants based on their lung health and smoking habits, then used a new genetic analysis technique to compare that information with roughly 800,000 common and rare variants throughout the human genome.
They found six independent genetic variants associated with lung health and COPD, as well as a group of variants linked with the condition in non-smokers. One of these signals, the researchers said, is the first example of structural variation in the human genome found to impact lung health while another five were found to be associated with heavy smoking, they added.
Professor Tobin told BBC News that the newly indentified genes appeared to affect the way that lungs grow and respond to damage. However, he added that there “doesn’t appear to be any kind of magic bullet that would give anyone guaranteed protection against tobacco smoke,” and those peoples’ lungs would still be “unhealthier than they would be had they been a non-smoker.”
Ian Jarrold, head of research at the British Lung Foundation, called the findings “a significant step forward in helping us achieve a clearer picture about… lung health. Understanding genetic predisposition is essential in not only helping us develop new treatments for people with lung disease but also in teaching otherwise healthy people how to better take care of their lungs.”
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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