The study of NIH links particle air pollution to an increase in mutations in lung cancer in non-smokers

Media Wednesday July 2, 2025

The whole genome sequencing study revealed that air pollution causes more changes related to cancer than secondary smoke.

What

Scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and their colleagues from the University of California in San Diego, have found that fine-start-up air pollution, which includes vehicle and industry pollution, was strongly associated with increased genomic changes in lung cancer tumors in people who have never smoked. By assembling the largest analysis of the whole genome in lung cancer in individuals who have never smoked, researchers were able to link exposure to air pollution to an increase in genetic mutations in cancer and cancer. This could potentially lead to more prevention strategies for never smoking them.

The researchers analyzed the pulmonary tumors of 871 patients never smoking in 28 geographic locations worldwide as part of the Sherlock-Lung study. They found associations between exposure to air pollution and changes in the TP53 Genes and other genetic mutation signatures previously associated with smoking. They also observed a relationship between air pollution and shorter telomeres, which are DNA sections found at the end of chromosomes. Telomeres naturally shorten with age and shorter telomeres are linked to the inability of cells to continue to reply. However, scientists have found that air pollution of fine particles was linked to the premature shortening of telomeres.

Anterior genomic studies on lung cancer have focused on tobacco smokers, leaving an important gap in our understanding of how lung cancer develops in people who have never used tobacco. Starting to discover the mechanisms by which tissues acquire carcinogenic mutations or promoting cancer after environmental exhibitions, this study helps scientists better understand the main engines of lung cancer in this population – which represents up to 25% of all cases of lung cancer in the world.

Interestingly, the researchers found that although exposure to used smoke was associated with slightly higher changes of transfer and shorter telomeres, compared to tumors in patients who have not been exposed, this has not led to an increase in management of cancer or mutational signatures. This suggests that used smoke can have a lower global capacity to cause genetic mutations, called mutagenicity, compared to air pollution.

This work was led by researchers from the National Cancer Institute of NIH and the University of California in San Diego, and published in Nature July 2, 2025.

WHO

Maria Teresa Landi, MD, PH.D. (Sherlock-Lung study) and Tongwu Zhang, Ph.D., are available to comment on this study.

Reference

Díaz-Gay, M and Zhang T et al. Mutagenous forces shaping the genomic landscape of lung cancer in net smokers. Nature. 2025. Https://www.nature.com/articles/S41586-025-09219-0

About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI directs the National Cancer Program and NIH efforts to considerably reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of cancer people. NCI supports a wide range of cancer research and extramural training through grants and contracts. The NCI intramural research program conducts basic, translational, clinical and epidemiological, transdisciplinary research, on the causes of cancer, avenues for prevention, risk prediction, early detection and treatment, including research at the NIH clinical center – the largest global research hospital. Find out more about intramural research carried out in the NCI division of epidemiology and genetics of NCI cancer. For more information on cancer, please visit the NCI Cancer.gov website or call the NCI cancer information service, at 1-800-4-Cancer (1-800-422-6237).

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