Miguel Afonso Caetano<p>"Air pollution has been linked to a swathe of lung cancer-driving DNA mutations, in a study of people diagnosed with the disease despite never having smoked tobacco.</p><p>The findings from an investigation into cancer patients around the world helps explain why those who have never smoked make up a rising proportion of people developing the cancer, a trend the researchers called an “urgent and growing global problem”.</p><p>Prof Ludmil Alexandrov, a senior author on the study at the University of California in San Diego, said researchers had observed the “problematic trend” but had not understood the cause.</p><p>“Our research shows that air pollution is strongly associated with the same types of DNA mutations we typically associate with smoking,” he said.</p><p>The scientists analysed the entire genetic code of lung tumours removed from 871 never-smokers in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia as part of the Sherlock-Lung study. They found that the higher the levels of air pollution in a region, the more cancer-driving and cancer-promoting mutations were present in residents’ tumours.</p><p>Fine-particulate air pollution was in particular linked to mutations in the TP53 gene. These have previously been associated with tobacco smoking."</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jul/02/air-pollution-lung-cancer-dna-mutations-study" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theguardian.com/science/2025/j</span><span class="invisible">ul/02/air-pollution-lung-cancer-dna-mutations-study</span></a></p><p><a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/AirPollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AirPollution</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/PublicHealth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PublicHealth</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/LungCancer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LungCancer</span></a></p>