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Q: Why do some people don't get cancer eventhough they smoke their whole lives?

Krishna:  When several factors decide outcomes, they follow the interplay of scientific rules and routes and exactly fit into the reaction realities.

Without a doubt, the safest way to protect yourself against lung cancer is to avoid smoking cigarettes, and yet, at the same time, it's also true that not all lifelong smokers are doomed to develop cancer.

Scientists have long wondered why, and a new study adds weight to the idea that genetics has a role to play.

Among people who smoke but never develop lung cancer, researchers found an inherent advantage. The cells that line their lungs appear to be less likely to mutate over time.

The findings suggest that DNA repair genes are more active among some individuals, which can protect against cancers arising, even when cigarettes are regularly smoked.

Actually lung cells survive for years, even decades, and thus can accumulate mutations with both age and smoking.

Of all the lung's cell types, these are among the most likely to become cancerous. Mutations in the human lung increase with natural age, and among smokers, the DNA damage is even more significant.

Tobacco smoke has long been associated with triggering DNA damage in the lung, but a new study found not all smokers are in the same boat.

While the amount that someone smoked was linked to an increase in cell mutation rates, after the equivalent of about 23 years of smoking a pack a day, that risk plateaus in some.  These individuals may have survived for so long in spite of their heavy smoking because they managed to suppress further mutation accumulation. This leveling off of mutations could stem from these people having very proficient systems for repairing DNA damage or detoxifying cigarette smoke.

The new findings could help explain why some lifelong smokers never develop lung cancer. It could also help explain why some people who never smoke at all do develop the tumors.

While toxic tobacco smoke seems to trigger extra cell mutations in the lung, whether these mutations develop into tumors is dependent on how well the body can repair DNA or reduce DNA damage.

Genes concerned with DNA repair can be inherited or acquired, and the silencing of repair genes has been associated with tumor development .

Genes aren't the only factors influencing a person's cancer risk. Environmental factors like diet can also influence nutrients in the body that impact tumor development.

What makes an individual's body better at repairing DNA is still up for debate and is likely complicated, but the new findings suggest this process is closely tied to lung cancer development.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-022-01035-w#Sec2

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