Surprise breakthrough in lung cancer research

Major findings in cancer research - 7th November 2022

At London's Crick Institute, a scientific study has changed scientists' knowledge of how lung cancer develops.

Researchers discovered that air pollution, from traffic, doesn't directly cause cancer. That discovery's now making experts "rethink" their understanding of the disease.

Lung cancer develops when changes, or "mutations" in lung cells make them divide problematically. However, air pollution itself doesn't change the body's cells. Instead, scientists discovered the mutations are already there, in a person's body.

Professor Charles Swanton and his team studied one particle – PM2.5 – which is found in air pollution. It's tinier than a piece of dust but once it's breathed in, it causes the body to ring an alarm. This chemical alarm wakes up passive, sleeping cells. And some may contain damaged mutations, which means lung cancer may develop.

From now on, researchers could stop concentrating on what makes cells mutate. Instead, they could spend more time discovering what wakes those mutations up. Professor Swanton explained air pollution was just the beginning. He said, "There are going to be 200 other examples of this over the next 10 years."

The study brought some additional good news. By experimenting with mice, scientists were able to stop lung cancer developing. They used a drug that blocked the chemical alarm system, called interleukin-1-beta.

In future, this drug could be given to people in heavily polluted areas. While smoking is definitely the biggest risk for lung cancer, in the UK, one in 10 cases is caused by air pollution.