Biotech Values

[north40000]

NEW research: Lung cancer

New research shows the major chemical carcinogen - benzo[a]pyrene (BPDE)
...comes from simply ingesting the smoke from a burned tobacco plant...and it accounts for 30% lung cancers.

Study appears to point to the fact that modifying levels of nicotine or tars is irrelevant to the forming of BPDE (carcinogenic) as a by product of simply burning organic compounds, causing modification of DNA and developing cancer cells.

http://ecancer.org/news/11788-tobacco-smoke-damage-to-dna-explored-in-new-genomic-map.php

"Scientists have known for decades that smoking cigarettes causes DNA damage, which leads to lung cancer.

Now, for the first time, UNC School of Medicine scientists created a method for effectively mapping that DNA damage at high resolution across the genome.

The innovation comes from the laboratory of Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, the Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UNC's School of Medicine.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Sancar and his team developed a useful technique for mapping sites on the genome that are undergoing repair following a common type of DNA damage.

They then used that technique to map all damage caused by the major chemical carcinogen - benzo[a]pyrene.

"This is a carcinogen that accounts for about 30 percent of the cancer deaths in the United States, and we now have a genome-wide map of the damage it causes," Sancar said.

Maps like these will help scientists better understand how smoking-induced cancers originate, why some people are more vulnerable or resistant to cancers, and how these cancers might be prevented.

Sancar also hopes that providing such stark and specific evidence of smoking's harm at the cellular level might induce some smokers to kick the habit.



"It is a byproduct of burning organic compounds, such as tobacco plants, and is enzymatically reduced in human blood to a compound called benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide (BPDE), which turns out to be worse than BaP itself.

"This is a carcinogen that accounts for about 30 percent of the cancer deaths in the United States, and we now have a genome-wide map of the damage it causes," Sancar said.

Sancar also hopes that providing such stark and specific evidence of smoking's harm at the cellular level might induce some smokers to kick the habit.

"It would be good if this helps raise awareness of how harmful smoking can be," he said. "It also would be helpful to drug developers if we knew exactly how DNA damage is repaired throughout the entire genome."