Nicabate

New Study: How cigarette smoke causes cancer

19-03-2008

New research from the University of California, Davis, show that hydrogen peroxide (or similar oxidants) in cigarette smoke is the reason why smoke causes healthy lung cells to become cancerous.

"With the five-year survival rate for people with lung cancer at a dismally low 15.5 percent, we hope this study will provide better insight into the identification of new therapeutic targets," said Tzipora Goldkorn, senior author of the report.

"Guns kill, bombs kill and cigarettes kill," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal.* "While biologists can't do much about the first two, studies like this will help in the fight against tobacco-related death and disease. These experiments not only pin-point new molecular targets for cancer treatment, but also identify culprits in cigarette smoke that eventually will do the smoker in."

This research sheds new light on how tobacco smoke, which contains 4,000 chemicals that can also be found in items such as rat poison, and nail polish remover, is the culprit behind the estimated 15,511 smoking-related deaths in Australia in 2003**. Some of these 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke (including 43 known carcinogens) result from chemicals added in processing to improve taste, increase burning times, and prolong shelf life.
 
Whilst nicotine is the substance in cigarettes that makes them addictive, there is no evidence linking nicotine with cancer or damage to tissue or vital organs.

*This research is published in the March 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal.
Adapted from materials provided by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
** Australian Bureau of Statistics. Tobacco Smoking in Australia: A Snapshot, 2004-05
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/4831.0.55.001?OpenDocument

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. "How Cigarette Smoke Causes Cancer: Study Points To New Treatments, Safer Tobacco." ScienceDaily 1 March 2008. 4 March 2008 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228080544.htm