Every year, more than two million people are diagnosed with lung cancer, one of the most fatal types of cancers. Although most people with lung cancer have a history of smoking tobacco, approximately a quarter of people who develop lung cancer have never smoked.
Secondhand smoke, radon, air pollution, and asbestos are risk factors for lung cancer. However, when Maria Teresa Landi, an epidemiologist with the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, and her colleagues sequenced more than 200 lung cancers in never-smokers, they did not find genetic signatures related to secondhand tobacco smoke exposure.
Instead, these tumors, which divided into three subtypes, arose from the accumulation of mutations from natural processes in the body. The different subtypes could unlock novel approaches for prevention and treatment.
“It’s a landmark paper for us to understand what drives lung cancer in never smokers,” said Chris Amos, an epidemiologist at ...
