Science:每天抽一包烟导致肺细胞每年产生150种突变

在一项新的研究中，来自英国剑桥大学韦尔科姆基金会桑格学院研究所和美国洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的研究人员和他们的合作者测量了吸烟在人体不同器官中导致的灾难性遗传损伤，鉴定出吸烟导致DNA突变的几种不同机制。他们发现对每天吸一包烟的吸烟者而言。这些吸烟者的每个肺细胞每年积累着平均150个额外的突变。相关研究结果发表在Science期刊上。

We have known for over 60 years that smoking tobacco is one of the most avoidable risk factors for cancer. Yet the detailed mechanisms by which tobacco smoke damages the genome and creates the mutations that ultimately cause cancer are still not fully understood. Alexandrov et al. examined mutational signatures and DNA methylation changes in over 5000 genome sequences from 17 different cancer types linked to smoking (see the Perspective by Pfeifer). They found a complex pattern of mutational signatures. Only cancers originating in tissues directly exposed to smoke showed a signature characteristic of the known tobacco carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene. One mysterious signature was shared by all smoking-associated cancers but is of unknown origin. Smoking had only a modest effect on DNA methylation.