A particular gene defect in smokers increases the risk of lung cancer, a new study by the Institute of Cancer Research in the United Kingdom shows.
For the study, the researchers analyzed DNA of 11,000 Europeans with lung cancer and 16,000 without the disease.
The study results showed that a defect in the breast cancer BRCA2 gene nearly doubles the risk of lung cancer. Up to one in four smokers with this genetic defect are most likely to develop lung cancer. "We've known for two decades that inherited mutations in BRCA2 made people more likely to develop breast and ovarian cancer, but these new findings show a greater risk of lung cancer too, especially for people who smoke," said Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, reports BBC.
Lead study author Richard Houlston explained that smokers generally have almost a 15 percent chance of developing lung cancer.
"Our results show that some smokers with BRCA2 mutations are at an enormous risk of lung cancer -- somewhere in the region of 25 percent over their lifetime," he said in a press release.
Researchers said that the association with the genetic defect was not responsible for causing lung cancers.
The researchers said they believe that some drugs used to cure BRCA defects might prove helpful in patients with squamous cell lung cancer. For example, drugs called as PARP inhibitors have been effective in treating breast and ovarian cancers. This means that they can also help treat lung cancer.
The study is published in the journal 'Nature Genetics.'
