Background
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. In contrast to many other cancers, a direct connection to modifiable lifestyle risk in the form of tobacco smoke has long been established. More than 50% of all smoking-related lung cancers occur in former smokers, 40% of which occur more than 15 years after smoking cessation. Despite extensive research, the molecular processes for persistent lung cancer risk remain unclear. We thus set out to examine whether risk stratification in the clinic and in the general population can be improved upon by the addition of genetic data and to explore the mechanisms of the persisting risk in former smokers.
de Biase, M.S., Massip, F., Wei, TT. et al. Smoking-associated gene expression alterations in nasal epithelium reveal immune impairment linked to lung cancer risk. Genome Med 16, 54 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13073-024-01317-4
