Ian Jarrold, the head of research at the British Lung Foundation, said the findings could also give insights for non-smokers. The findings, according to Medical Research Council scientists, could lead to developments of new drugs to enhance lung function.
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It turns out that these specific genes had something to do with the way lungs respond to injury caused by the damaging effects of smoking. “Genetics play a big part, as they do in smoking behaviour”, said Prof Hall. “Knowing why they are more likely to develop lung disease or to become heavy smokers is important for developing treatments for these diseases and for helping smokers to quit”.
While smoking and indoor air pollution are known to be risk factors for COPD, there is also believed to be a strong genetic component in both smoking behavior and risk of COPD and other lung diseases.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD is, according to health statistics provided by federal authorities, the third leading cause of death in the United States. Smokers would still develop unhealthier lungs than they would if they were non-smokers, Tobin added.
Notably, a few of the other DNA profiles carried a higher risk of COPD, which explains why certain people develop the associated disease in spite of never having puffed a single cigarette throughout their lives.
The study also suggests there may be genetic differences between people that could make them more likely to be addicted to cigarettes.
The research team analyzed the genetic data from UK-based genetic information database Biobank. The team found that the numbers of copies of duplicated sequence of the genome on Chromosome 17 was associated with lung health in heavy smokers and also in never smokers.
Study authors picked only participants that stored DNA material coming from their lungs and filed a questionnaire over their smoking habits.
“Health and genetic data from the UK Biobank has revealed new genetic associations between smoking and lung cancer, including five areas of * a class=”glink tt_basic” href=”/page_1676.asp” rel=”*page.asp?obj_id=1676&cAct=SIMP” *DNA for the first time associated with heavy smoking.
Dr Cátia Saraiva, from the Department of Pulmonology, of Portuguese Institute of Oncology, Lisbon, Portugal, will tell the European Respiratory Society’s worldwide Congress 2015, today (27 September, 2015) that the team studied 504 Portuguese non-smokers with NSCLC, and 904 smokers with the same disease.
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Professor David Mannino, presenting author from the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, commented: “The results of our study indicate that a 5-item questionnaire of carefully selected questions can help identify people before they have serious complications of COPD”.
