Jakarta –
One of the causes of lung cancer is habit smoking. However, studies have shown that active smokers have a lower risk of developing lung cancer than passive smokers. How could that be?
A study at Albert Einstein College Medicine revealed that there are differences in cell conditions in the body of active smokers and passive smokers.
It has long been assumed that smoking causes lung cancer because it induces DNA mutations in normal lung cells. This myth was solved by the professor and the genetic committee at Einstein, Jan Vijg.
“There is no way to accurately calculate normal cell mutations,” said Vijg, quoted by Science Daily.
Active and Passive Smoker Cell Mutation
Vijg and his research group then developed a sequencing technique called single-cell multiple displacement amplification (SCMDA).
This method was then used to compare mutations of normal lung epithelial cells from 14 never-smokers (ages 11-86) and 19 smokers (ages 44-81 who smoked a maximum of 116 packs per year).
“These cells can survive for years, even decades and are able to accumulate mutations with age and smoking habits,” said Simon Spivack, another Einstein scientist.
“Of all the types of lung cells, the cells (which are studied) are the ones that are most likely to cause cancer,” he continued.
Although cell mutations are said to increase with age, cell mutations in active smokers are more ‘advanced’ than passive smokers.
Another thing they found was that the number of cell mutations increased, along with the number of packs of cigarettes consumed per year. The risk of lung cancer also increases.
However, this increase in cell mutations stopped after the habit of consuming 23 packs per year. Spivack explained that the heaviest smokers did not have the highest mutations.
“The decrease in mutations could be because heavy smokers have very sophisticated systems to repair DNA damage or detoxify cigarette smoke,” he continued.
“Our data suggest that these individuals may have survived so long, even if they smoked heavily, because they were able to suppress the accumulation of further cell mutations,” Spivack said.
Ultimately, this study suggests that some smokers may have an excellent mechanism for protecting themselves from lung cancer by limiting mutations in lung cells. Thus, there are only a few smokers who suffer from the disease.
Even so, activities smoking according to many studies can still interfere with health can even trigger the arrival of dangerous diseases. In addition, smoking can also harm other people in the vicinity who have the potential to be directly affected, such as being susceptible to lung cancer.
The following is a list of groups of people who are susceptible to lung cancer
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