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Tobacco Smoking and Somatic Mutations in Human Bronchial Epithelium

Monday, February 3, 2020

Submitted by

Mark Ferguson

Source

Source Name: Nature

Source URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-1961-1

Author(s)

Kenichi Yoshida, Kate H. C. Gowers, Henry Lee-Six, Deepak P. Chandrasekharan, Tim Coorens, Elizabeth F. Maughan, Kathryn Beal, Andrew Menzies, Fraser R. Millar, Elizabeth Anderson, Sarah E. Clarke, Adam Pennycuick, Ricky M. Thakrar, Colin R. Butler, Nobuyuki Kakiuchi, Tomonori Hirano, Robert E. Hynds, Michael R. Stratton, Iñigo Martincorena, Sam M. Janes, Peter J. Campbell

This interesting study compared bronchial epithelial mutation burden, the primary source of new lung cancers, among nonsmokers, former smokers, and current smokers. Smoking typically adds 1,000 to 10,000 mutations per cell. Smoking cessation in this study was associated with replenishment of the abnormal epithelium with cells that are typical of nonsmokers and have a normal mutagenic potential.