Identifying these smoking-related DNA changes may lead to diagnostic tests that can more accurately evaluate a patient’s smoking history, London said.
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Smoking damages DNA in clear patterns, researchers reported Tuesday. The researchers say that smokers, among those studied, saw changes to more than 7,000 genes or about one-third of known human genes. “Many cancers, bone disease, lung disease, heart disease, [gastrointestinal] problems – smoking has such a wide array of effects, it’s not especially surprising to hear its epigenetic effects”.
United States researchers analysed DNA methylation sites across the human genome using blood samples taken from almost 16,000 participants including current and former smokers and those who had never smoked.
New evidence reveals that smoking cigarettes can permanently change the human DNA; about 7,000 genes to be exact.
“[This] means your body is trying to heal itself of the harmful impacts of tobacco smoking”, he said.
According to a new study published today in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, smoking leaves historical “footprint” on the human genome in the form of DNA methylation (a process in which molecules are added to sections of DNA sequences). Yes it does, unveils a new study of 16,000 people.
The study’s authors say that within five years of quitting, most genetic changes “recovered” to look like nonsmokers’ genes.
While some of the affected genes are not linked to smoking-related damages, they can serve as markers to determine who have high risk of developing smoking-related diseases in the future.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 40 million adults in the country smoked cigarettes.
According to CDC, smoking causes 1 in 5 deaths in USA every years and accounts for 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths.
“These results are important because methylation, as one of the mechanisms of the regulation of gene expression, affects what genes are turned on, which has implications for the development of smoking-related diseases”, study author Stephanie J. London of the Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, said. Across the globe, it is responsible for the deaths of around six million people a year.
An estimated 40 million adults in the United States now smoke cigarettes.
The impact could last even for over three decades. But it doesn’t wipe the slate clean.
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Even decades after stopping, former smokers are at long-term risk of developing diseases including some cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke. “The mechanisms for these long-term effects are not well understood”.
