Air pollution can trigger lung cancer in nonsmokers: research

Air pollution can trigger lung cancer in people who don't smoke, according to new research from the Francis Crick Institute and University College London.

In a study of roughly half a million people living in England, South Korea and Taiwan, researchers found more exposure to air pollution particles was linked to an increased risk of developing a mutation in the EGFR gene, which is known to cause non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The research sheds new light on the dangers of air pollution. NSCLC, one of two major types of lung cancer, is mostly linked to smoking but air pollution has long been considered another danger. NSCLC kills 250,000 people across the world annually.

Charles Swanton, the chief clinician at Francis Crick Institute and Cancer Research UK and a lead study author, said the "risk of lung cancer from air pollution is lower than from smoking, but we have no control over what we all breathe."

"Globally, more people are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution than to toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke, and these new data link the importance of addressing climate health to improving human health," Swanton said in a statement Saturday.

The research was presented on Saturday at the 2022 ESMO Congress in Paris, a major gathering of leading health care researchers and representatives from across the world.

Air pollution disproportionately impacts low-income communities and people of color and has been linked to other negative health effects.

A study published last month showed even a slight increase of the amount of nitrogen dioxide in the air is linked to increased health care costs.

The most polluted states in the U.S. include Louisiana, Texas, Utah and Ohio, while the least polluted include Vermont, Idaho, California and Wyoming.

In the Francis Crick Institute study, researchers discovered that higher exposure to 2.5 micrometers of particulate matter (PM 2.5) — a common, inhalable particle emitted primarily from vehicles — increased the development of not only EGFR mutation but also in KRAS, another gene liked to lung cancer.

Swanton said the mutations in the EGFR and KRAS genes are present in normal lung tissue as a consequence of aging, but "when lung cells with these mutations were exposed to air pollutants, we saw more cancers."

"These occurred more quickly than when lung cells with these mutations were not exposed to pollutants, suggesting that air pollution promotes the initiation of lung cancer in cells harboring driver gene mutations," Swanton said.