Chronic bronchitis is usually associated with cigarette smoking . Irritation of the lungs can lead to asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. And, in fact, many people develop two or three of these together. This is a genetic disorder caused by inheriting two defective genes for a transmembrane protein needed for the transport of Cl - ions. The lungs produce copious amounts of a heavy mucus that plugs the airways interfering with breathing and causing a persistent cough.
Cystic fibrosis is the most common inherited disease in the U.S. white population.
Some mutations that cause cystic fibrosis. Lung Cancer Lung cancer is the most common cancer and the most common cause of cancer deaths in U.S. males. Although more women develop breast cancer than lung cancer, since 1987 U.S. women have been dying in larger numbers from lung cancer than from breast cancer. Link to lung cancer data. Lung cancer, like all cancer, is an uncontrolled proliferation of cells.