Scientific evidence has provided an explanation of risk that long term exposure to air pollution leads to heart health. Even recent findings suggest that exposure to small amounts of pollution can lead to potentially fatal heart attacks and strokes.

Now, a new study added the data that “exposure to high concentrations of small airborne particles can increase the risk of development lung cancer in just three years.” Learning Promotion of lung adenocarcinoma by air pollutants published in magazine Natural, in addition, it provides new insights into disease progression.

“More than 70 years ago, it was proposed that tumorigenesis occurs in a two-step process: the initiator, which induces mutations in healthy cells, followed by the promoter step, which triggers cancer development,” said the paper’s authors. in publication.-. Here we propose that 2.5 micrometer environmental particles (PM 2.5), which are known to be associated with lung cancer risk, promote lung cancer by acting on cells harboring pre-existing oncogenic mutations in tissues. healthy lungs.

As the researchers see it, “the polluting fog seems very particular harmful to lung tissue Healthy that he has a genetic change that puts him at risk for cancer.”

The study included an analysis of nearly 33,000 people with lung cancer and found that very high levels of small pollutants were associated with an increased risk of lung cancer driven by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which primarily affects non-smokers or non-smokers. person. who don’t smoke much.

Charles Swanton is a cancer researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in England, and argues that “cells with cancer-causing mutations accumulate naturally with age, but are usually dormant.” “We have shown that air pollution wakes up these cells in the lungsencouraging them to grow and potentially form tumors,” he said.

These results, the researchers said, reaffirm that air pollution is a major cause of lung cancer and emphasize the need for action to reduce pollution and protect public health.

Particulate matter (PM) contributes to air pollution, affecting nearly every place on Earth and causing 8 million deaths a year. Fine particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM 2.5 ) can penetrate deep into the lungs and have been linked to various health problems, including heart disease and – now – lung cancer.

“Traditionally, it is believed so Carcinogens cause tumors by directly inducing DNA damage”, the study authors wrote in a published article. Mouse models also show that exposure to air pollution causes lung cell changes that can lead to cancer, and PM 2.5 particles appear to power the second step in the process.

To dig deeper into how air pollution causes cancer, Swanton and an international team of researchers undertook a three-part analysis. On the one hand, they used an environmental and epidemiological data set of 32,957 people from the UK, Taiwan, and South Korea, and looked at PM2.5 levels associated with EGFR-mutated lung cancer, which is caused by mutations in the EGFR gene.

According to these findings, para estimated incidence of lung cancer with increased EGFR mutations as exposure to PM 2.5 increases. Other data from 407,509 participants in the UK Biobank corroborate this association.

On the other hand, a smaller data set of 228 non-smokers in Canada shows just that after three years exposure to high levels of pollution from PM 2.5 air, the risk of developing EGFR-induced lung cancer increased from 40 to 73%.

“Taken together, these data, combined with published evidence, suggest that there is an association between the estimated incidence of EGFR-induced lung cancer and PM 2.5 exposure levels and that three years of exposure to air pollution may be sufficient to establish this association. themselves”, wrote the authors of the work in their concluding publication.

Lastly, the team also used the EGFR mutations induced in a mouse model to investigate cellular processes that may be behind cancer growth in relation to air pollution. And they found that PM 2.5 appears to cause an influx of immune cells and the release of interleukin-1 (a signaling molecule that causes inflammation) in lung cells.

Lung cancer is the most common form of cancer worldwide and the leading cause of death from oncology. About 2.2 million new cases are detected annually globally and 1.8 million die from these causes.

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