Quitting smoking reverses lung cell damage – study

PanARMENIAN.Net - It’s never too late to quit smoking, as a new study shows the lung’s ability to heal and regrow damaged cells caused by cigarette smoking, even if they smoked for decades.

Cigarette smokers have long been told that the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and lung cancer will drop if they quit smoking, preventing new damage to the body. In a new study published in the journal Nature, a team of researchers revealed that the lungs can reverse cell damage, with ex-smokers having nearly normal profiles even if they smoked for 30 or more years, News Medical reports.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that there are about 1.1 billion smokers across the globe with 1.8 million lung cancer deaths reported each year. Lung cancer develops after many years or decades of smoking, with smokers having a 30-fold higher risk of developing the disease compared to those who never smoked.

Tobacco smoke contains carcinogenic chemicals that damage the DNA in lung cells, leading to mutations. In this case, the previous body of knowledge shows that these mutations that lead to lung cancer have been considered permanent, but with the new study findings, it was revealed that the few cells that escape damage can repair the lungs.

The researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and University College London have found that the dormant cells found in the airways, which have avoided damage from tobacco smoke, can spring into life, proliferate or multiply, and replace damaged lung cells.

To land to the study findings, the researchers detected DNA signatures that show the damage source, to shed light on the possible causes of cancer and find the ones that are still unknown. The study highlights the importance of quitting smoking, no matter how long the person has smoked, since it can stop further damage to the lungs and allow new, healthy cells to actively repair the airway linings, which can help protect against lung cancer.