Big breakthrough in cancer research - 7th November 2022

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, London, claim to have cracked the link between air pollution and lung cancer. Their findings radically impact understanding of how cancer arises, as well as suggesting new ways of combating it.

Scientists conducting biomedical research identified that air pollution, rather than being the direct cause of lung cancer, activated cancerous cells. According to the Institute's Professor Charles Swanton, the study "rethinks our understanding of how tumours are initiated."

With pulmonary cancer, ongoing mutations in lung cells lead cells to split and multiply. Yet the research indicates that instead of causing the genetic code to mutate, particulate matter from vehicle fumes actually kickstarts cancer-causing mutations that are already present.

Even healthy lungs contain cell mutations at risk of becoming malignant with a push from air pollution. The study put one pollution contaminant, PM2.5, under the microscope lens. Thinner than a speck of dust, the particle triggers the body to release a chemical alarm signal, in turn switching on dormant cells, some of which may have the detrimental mutations associated with tumours.

Following this breakthrough, researchers might feasibly devote more time to grappling with what sparks mutations, rather than what initially mutates cells.

Struck by the future potential, Professor Swanton said, "Pollution is a lovely example, but there are going to be 200 other examples of this over the next 10 years."

The team made an additional, extraordinary breakthrough by successfully preventing lung cancer from forming in mice exposed to air pollution. Thanks to a drug - interleukin-1-beta - they interrupted the chemical alarm, prompting Professor Swanton to announce a "new era" in cancer prevention.

In the future, those living in urban areas at high risk of exposure might be prescribed the same medication. 1 in 10 lung cancer cases in the UK is caused by external pollutants rather than cigarette smoke, and the breakthrough helps explain why non-smokers can also contract lung cancer.

Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, said, "Smoking remains the biggest cause of lung cancer, " but added, "Science, which takes years of painstaking work, is changing our thinking around how cancer develops."