Why non-smokers also get sick – healing practice

Why polluted air can cause lung cancer

Smoking is known to be by far the largest risk factor for the creation of lung cancer. But even people who have never smoked and are rarely exposed to secondhand smoke can develop lung cancer – in many cases due to polluted air. A research team found out how for the first time Air pollutants cause lung cancer be able.

researchers of Francis Crick Instituteof University College London as well as from Cancer Research UK have at the congress of European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) presented recent research, describing for the first time via which mechanism air pollutants the risk of lung cancer raise.

Lung cancer from air pollution

According to the working group, around 250,000 people lung cancer caused by air pollution rather than smoking. Now, for the first time, a research group has been able to explain how small pollutant particles in the air can cause lung cancer in non-smokers.

The responsible pollutant particles typically get over vehicle exhaust as well as about the Combustion of fossil fuels in the air.

“The same airborne particles that come from burning fossil fuels and exacerbate climate change directly impact human health through an important and previously overlooked cancer-causing mechanism in lung cells”reports Charles Swanton from the Francis Crick Institute.

We have no control over what we breathe

“The risk of developing lung cancer is lower from air pollution than from smoking, but we have no control over what we all breathe in”Swanton points out

Because while people are largely free to decide whether they want to breathe in cigarette smoke or not, many people around the world are exposed to poor air quality without being able to escape it.

Air pollutants lead to mutations in the lungs

As part of the study, the researchers were able to demonstrate for the first time that particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 microns with an increased risk of mutations in the lungs in the genes EGFR and KRAS.

Using data from around half a million people from England, South Korea and Taiwan, the scientists were able to prove that the risk of EGFR and KRAS mutations with increasing particulate matter concentration increases in the air.

In laboratory tests, the working group was also able to document that typical air pollutant particles rapid changes in airway cells promote that cause mutations in the genes EGFR and KRAS. Such mutations are considered triggers for lung cancer.

The risk of lung cancer also increases with age

“We found that driver mutations in the EGFR and KRAS genes, which are common in lung cancer, are also present in normal lung tissue and are likely a consequence of aging”adds Swanton.

In the laboratory tests, the age-related mutations the risk of lung cancer increases only slightly. However, if exposure to air pollutants was added, the risk of lung cancer increased significantly.

Not every mutated cell becomes a cancer cell

However, it is still unclear why the mutated lung cells in some people cancer cells develop and others don’t. The team wants to clarify this in a further study. (vb)