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Genes That Are Associated With Tobacco Dependence And Lung Cancer

Dr_Hurt
Mayo Clinic
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You may have seen the news recently about the genes that were found to be associated with lung cancer. Hold on – that is only part of the story so read on further. Basically, the studies showed a smoker who inherits one copy of this particular gene has a 25% increased risk of developing lung cancer while a smoker who inherits two copies of the gene (one from each parent) has an 80% chance of developing lung cancer. Whether this is due to the greater level of tobacco dependence and heavier smoking among smokers with two sets of the gene is unclear. However, finding genes that are related to nicotine points to the biologic basis of tobacco dependence. It really is in your genes, and not simply a problem of character or will power.


As a smoker, is it important for you to know if you have one or two copies of this gene? Probably not, and furthermore, this test is going to be a while in the making. The reason is not so important is because we know the main cause of lung cancer is smoking. So stopping smoking reduces the risk of developing lung cancer regardless of your genetic makeup. And if you do not have this gene, is it okay to continue to smoke? Of course not. Remember that lung cancer is only one of a myriad of tobacco caused diseases. As these articles point out a minority of smokers develop lung cancer in the first place. Smokers who do not have this gene and are at less risk for developing lung cancer certainly can develop heart disease, emphysema and other forms of cancer like laryngeal cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, etc. So, if the genetic marker of the smoker indicates a lower risk for lung cancer would that mean we should be less aggressive in helping that smoker to stop smoking? Absolutely not. We should help all smokers stop smoking because it dramatically reduces their chances of dying for a tobacco caused disease, and that’s basically a 50/50 proposition. In other words, smokers who continue to smoke through their adult lives, half of them will die of a tobacco caused disease.


The bottom line is that this research adds to our understanding of the genetics of tobacco dependence and lung cancer but stopping smoking always gets back to you the smoker. So dig in, go to becomeanex.org get your plan in place, and go for it.


Dr. Richard D. Hurt is an internationally recognized expert on tobacco dependence. A native of Murray, Kentucky, he joined Mayo Clinic in 1976 and is now a Professor of Medicine at its College of Medicine. In 1988, he founded the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center and since then its staff has treated over 33,000 patients for tobacco dependence. Send your questions directly to Dr. Hurt at AskTheExpert@becomeanex.org

About the Author
Retired in 2014. Dr. Richard D. Hurt is an internationally recognized expert on tobacco dependence. A native of Murray, Kentucky, he joined Mayo Clinic in 1976 and is now a Professor of Medicine at its College of Medicine. In 1988, he founded the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center and since then its staff has treated more than 50,000 patients for tobacco dependence.