In spite of air pollution mostly associated with asthma and chronic cough due to reaction airway diseaseDoctors always wonder what causes lungs cancer in non-smokers. Lung cancer in non-smokers has always puzzled scientists because there is no real awareness of the cause of the disease because lung cancer in non-smokers is thought to be mainly caused by mutations. gene.
In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Mrunal Parab, Consultant Cancer Surgery Consultant at Masina Hospital in Mumbai, shared: “Indoor and outdoor air pollution can also lead to lung cancer as well. such as heart disease, COPD. Toxic airborne pollutants that can cause CANCER are usually particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers known as PM2.5. The most common cause of lung cancer is clearly smoking whether active or passive, but after adjusting for smoking-related deaths, the second most common cause of cancer is pollution. air with particulate matter. Air pollution worldwide is seen mainly in cities.
Toxic air pollutants that can cause cancer are arsenic, asbestos, benzene, beryllium, cadmium, coal tar, silica, ethylene oxide, wood dust, trichlorethylene, thorium, Nike compounds, she stressed. , burning indoor asphalt, coal granules, vinyl chloride, chemical fumes. They are commonly found in industrial areas as well as large cities (due to the use of coal, crude oil, gasoline, diesel). Burning plastics and other wastes increases aromatic carbon compounds in the air. It is one of the leading causes of cancer. Smog is the air with a dense density of heavy air pollution particles and is very dangerous because it can lead to chronic bronchitis, COPD, asthma, allergic rhinitis as well as lung cancer most commonly lung cancer. adenocarcinoma.”
She revealed that all of these pollutants lead to persistent inflammation and irritation in the upper and lower airways, adding: “That leads to changes in the DNA that also interfere with proper breathing. repair DNA damage caused by faulty DNA propagation in the cell cycle. It leads to irreversible genetic changes. These changes lead to tumor formation and cancer. The early signs leading to cancer formation are chronic cough, wheezing, COPD, asthma, hemoptysis, shortness of breath, weakness, voice changes and finally cancer formation. Lung cancer associated with air pollution is primarily adenocarcinoma.”
Dr Sewanti Limaye, Director of the Department of Oncology and Precision Medicine at the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, pointed out that in a recent study of nearly 45,000 UK participants, it was found that particles Large dust over 2.5 um can result in a specific type. Lung cancer caused by mutations in the EGFR gene. She said, “This type of lung cancer is found in 25% of lung cancer cases in India and the highest rates of lung cancer are seen in non-smokers. Dr Charles Swanton from the Francis Crick Institute in the UK in his research presentation demonstrated that this is a unique mechanism different from the widely known tobacco-associated carcinogenesis. This carcinogenic mechanism depends on particulate matter sizes above 2.5 um and provides enough evidence to wage the fight against air pollution to limit the causes of cancer in non-smokers. “
