Now, a direct, molecular link with lung cancer By Catherine Shepherd M ANY OF US HAVE seen a smoker's lung. So there is a general awareness that cigarettes and lung cancer often go together. Understandably, from their vantage point, tobacco companies have hotly contested the connection, claiming the evidence is far from conclusive. But now, because of research conducted by the University of Texas, it has been scientifically proven that a direct, molecular link exists between smoking and lung cancer.
Tumors grow when cancer cells multiply out of control.
The human body fights these cancer cells with genes that instruct the cancer to stop reproducing. But the p53 gene is unable to do its job in the lungs of smokers. BPDE damages the p53 gene so that it cannot give instructions checking the growth of tumors. The findings are not good news for the tobacco industry, which has yet to respond to this research. Previously, most studies involved animals.