After comparing the DNA of 11,348 Europeans with lung cancer and 15,861 cancer-free patients, researchers found a particularly strong contention for those with the squamous cell lung cancer type. Squamous cell carcinoma is a non-small cell lung cancer, accounting for 25 to 30 percent of all lung cancers. The defect in gene BRCA2, which is also known for its role in breast cancer, increases the risk of lung cancer so much that smokers who carry it are likely to develop cancer at some point in their lives.
“Our study showed that mutations to two genes, BRCA2 and CHEK2, have a very large effect on lung cancer risk in the context of smoking. Mutated BRCA2 in particular seems to increase risk by around 1.8 times,” said Richard Houlston, the study’s lead author and professor of molecular and population Genetics at The Institute of Cancer Research.
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Read the full, original story: 25% Of Smokers Carry Newly Discovered Genetic Link To Lung Cancer
