September 2007 « Chantix News HomeTest detects Genetic Damage caused by Smoking An experimental lung cancer screening test intended to search precancerous genetic damage might help better in the identification of patients, who may be at risk of developing the disease, a latest study suggests. The test has also unbolted the possibility of earlier diagnoses and application of preventive treatments. The test allowed researchers to monitor people for indications of chromosomal abnormalities in the lungs that are found common among nearly all lung cancer patients. Over 80 percent of patients who did not suffer from lung cancer, but were at high risk due to their smoking, were found with such disease biomarkers. "We were capable of seeing precancerous genetic modifications in the bronchial cells lining the airways of the lungs in both high-risk smokers and in patients having lung cancer in another part of the lung," said lead author Dr. Wilbur A. Franklin, a professor of pathology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. However, in account of their study in the September issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the researchers cautioned that they are still not sure that identified genetic changes will certainly lead to lung cancer. Yet, they noted that the probability of such an association is fuel for advance study. In the comparison of colon, prostate and breast cancer, Lung cancer causes more fatalities in the United States, the researchers further said. They added that genetic markers are good means for the screening of interventions,
contemplating the fact that once chromosomal abnormalities crop up, they
are regarded irreversible even in smokers who cease the habit. |
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