A device similar to an asthma inhaler, to be used between cigarettes, could repair the destruction wrought by toxic chemicals.
Clinical trials suggest the same method can be used to treat smokers who have developed lung cancer.
Introgen's proposed vaccine is based on a therapy being developed to treat people with cancer. A common virus is made harmless and a human gene, known as p53, is added. The p53 gene maintains the integrity of DNA by detecting and repairing damaged molecules or, if the damage is too great, causing the cell to die. In many lung cancer victims, however, the p53 gene is made ineffective by toxic chemicals in the smoke and cannot perform this task - allowing cancerous cells to multiply. Introgen found, however, that this process can be blocked.