Smoking Affects Gene Expression
New research by the National Cancer Institute has shown that smoking affects the way genes are expressed, leading to alterations in cell division.
The researchers measured gene expression in 58 fresh-frozen tumor and 49 fresh-frozen non-tumor samples from 74 participants in the Environmental And Genetics in Lung cancer Etiology (EAGLE) study, which was a large lung cancer study that was conducted in the Lombardy region of Italy. The participants were 44 to 79 years old, and 28 were current smokers, 26 were former smokers, and 20 had never smoked.
Using microarray techniques, which is a tool for analyzing gene expression, the researchers were able to identify 135 genes that were differently expressed in tumors of smokers vs. people who have never smoked. Among these genes, 81 showed decreased expression and 54 showed increased expression in tumor tissue. Most of the genes showing significantly increased expression are involved in cell cycle regulation and mitosis.
In non-tumor lung tissues, the researchers found decreased activity for 73 genes and increased activity for 25 genes in current smokers. The genes most affected by smoking are involved in immune response-related processes, possibly a defense against the effects of smoking. However, non-tumor tissues are able to recover from the effects of smoking. The researchers did not identify significant changes in the immune response-related genes in former smokers.
The NIH also states that about 90 percent of lung cancer deaths among men and almost 80 percent of lung cancer deaths among women can be attributed to smoking. In 2006, approximately 20.8 percent of U.S. adults were cigarette smokers. Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing an estimated 438,000 deaths, or about one out of every five deaths each year.
This is a very interesting study and provides further evidence of just how bad for you smoking is. The percentage of adults that smoke in the U.S. is surprising to me. I did not realize that it was that high. However, other countries have even greater percentages of smokers. With all of the information out there about the negative effects of smoking, I am always surprised how many people start and continue to smoke.
Reference: NIH
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