Lung cancer

Experts identify gene variants linked to lung cancer

Researchers in China & US identified 2 genes which appear to make ethnic Chinese more susceptible to lung cancer. Their finding involves 2 genes,ABCB1 & ABCC1, which were previously thought to be linked to eliminating carcinogens from the lungs and protecting them against inhaled toxins. Their study, analyzed the genes of 500 patients with lung cancer & 517 cancer free participants in China. The analysis found certain (gene) variants were found much more often in individuals with lung cancer than in cancer free controls. Among those 31% were found with a certain mutation of the ABCB1 gene, while 27% were found with a variant of the ABCC1 gene. But those same mutations were found in only 15% and 12 percent of participants in the cancer free group. The variant (of ABCB1) was particularly associated with an increased risk of cancer in women and in individuals under age 60 years. It also was linked to a major type of lung cancer called adenocarcinoma.

Those figures would account for 19 and 5% respectively of all deaths in China during that period, said the researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

Respiratory diseases are among the 10 leading causes of deaths in China. About half of Chinese men smoke. In more than 70% of homes, Chinese cook and heat their homes with wood, coal and crop residues.