It's never too late to quit

Scientists: 90% of smoker's lung cells mutate

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

A study by scientists from the UK shows that quitting smoking significantly improves the state of the body of smokers, and the positive effects are visible not only in the restoration of damaged lung cells. The results are relevant for all people with an addiction, including those who have smoked for decades. The results are published on the website of the UK charity Cancer Research UK (Never too late to quit: protective cells could cut the risk of lung cancer for ex-smokers).

Article by Yoshida et al. Tobacco smoking and somatic mutations in human bronchial epithelium is published in the journal Nature – VM.

When smoking, DNA is damaged in the cells lining the lungs. These mutations can eventually provoke cells to become malignant and form tumors. That's how cancer begins.

Now scientists have found that people who quit smoking reduce their risk of developing cancer: they have more genetically healthy cells in their lungs.

To prove this, scientists sequenced the DNA of individual cells from current and former smokers, as well as people who have never smoked, and children.

More than 90% of smokers' cells had up to 10,000 additional genetic changes that were caused by exposure to chemicals from tobacco smoke, observations showed.

More than a quarter of these damaged cells had at least one mutation that causes cancer. This explains why the risks of lung tumors are much higher in smokers.

Former smokers turned out to have four times more healthy cells than regular smokers. These cells accounted for up to 40% of the total number of cells in the lungs.

"The results clearly show that it's not too late to quit even after 40 or more years of continuous smoking," said Peter Campbell, senior author of the study.

Quitting smoking at any age and with any smoking experience slows down the accumulation of DNA damage in cells and allows you to activate healthy cells to protect against cancer, the authors conclude. They hope that their findings will be taken into account by doctors and officials in many countries to promote smoking cessation.

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