Difference between smokers and non-smokers

Cancer researchers recently found that smokers and non-smokers with lung cancer actually have a different nature. This is the latest research discovery by Johns Hopkin University. Research results show that the treatment of lung cancer must also apply different methods.

" The genetic, cellular and molecular biology of non-smokers suffers from cancer, " said Charles M. Rudin, deputy director of clinical research at Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University. The lungs are not the same as smokers who suffer from lung cancer, which is becoming more and more obvious. At the same time, there are also evidence that, for non-smokers, cancer prevention and treatment methods are different from those of smokers . '

The non-smokers here are the only people who have spent the whole life smoking less than 100 cigarettes. For these people, because they do not have a history of smoking, doctors rarely suspect they have lung cancer, whereas lung cancer often presents with cough or chest pain in the The last paragraph and often misdiagnosed as respiratory disease. Doctors often use antibiotics and anti-asthma medications to treat, Rudin added.

' People who have never smoked the reaction are very sensitive to the drug called EGFR inhibitors, because of their greater ability to mutate EGPR genes .'

EGFR normally promotes cell growth and development, when mutations occur in genes that will make cells grow freely. Cell growth is not controlled by the body, this is the characteristic of cancer.

For future clinical diagnosis, he said: ' Conducting targeted therapy for the genetic modification of non-smokers, this brings some successes. For example: treatment for genetically modified cancer EML4 － ALK. When conducting a thorough study of the level of genetic relevance, we can tell more. '

In the list of causes of cancer-related deaths of the US population, non-smokers suffering from lung cancer are ranked at No. 6.

Exposure to second-hand smoke and radon are considered important causes for non-smokers to get this disease . But it is impossible to explain why the risk factors are known to about 50% of non-smokers suffer from lung disease. Dangerous factors known as: 'asbestos, firewood from the furnaces in the room or smoke of cooking oil.

Jonathan M. Samet and Flora L. Thornton of the University of Southern California Department of Preventive Medicine all say: ' In addition to exposure to second-hand smoke and radon, we still cannot explain why. Non-smokers have lung cancer. '

Rudin also said that lung cancer among non-smokers is often found in women and a group of people in Asia, perhaps because women are daily exposed to pollution in the room due to cooking oil and incinerator triggers.

In the US, the number of non-smokers with lung cancer accounts for 10 ~ 15%, each year about 20,000 cases. The survival rate of these cases is very low.

The results of this study include three essays published in the Clinical Cancer Research Journal of Clinical Cancer on September 15. This research project is funded by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute).