This is quite wonderful and will maybe help massively in the future. We just need to stop polluting 😳
Air pollution cancer breakthrough will rewrite the rules https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62797777
That’s really interesting, thanks
Is this your area of expertise?
An interesting development in the IL-1 PM2.5 linkage.
Unlikely to make much difference to ongoing pollution and legislation in the short term I'd expect.
A link between air pollution has been made for many years. The BBC 'article' refers to a 1947 source.
The novelty here is better explained in this ESMO article on the research and includes an abstract of the publication. https://www.esmo.org/newsroom/press-releases/scientists-discover-how-air-pollution-may-trigger-lung-cancer-in-never-smokers
These results shed light on the aetiology of EGFRm lung cancer, particularly in never-smokers, and suggest that oncogenic mutations may be necessary but insufficient for tumour formation. These data reveal a mechanistic basis for PM driven lung cancer in the absence of classical carcinogen-driven mutagenesis, reminiscent of models of tumour initiation and promotion proposed 70 years ago, providing evidence to limit air pollution and opportunities for molecular targeted cancer prevention.
Interesting and thanks for sharing. ESMO this week so there will be positive cancer stories. Of note, this paper from 2017 showed that PM2.5 activated the EGFR pathway https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28101945/ . The new advance/novelty is that this was done in EGRF mutated cells that typically will not be come cancerous on their own, but can go on to become cancerous with a preferential growth advantage stimulated by activation via PM2.5.
The anti-IL1b antibody canukinumab is an immunosuppressant that was trialled in atherosclerosis following a heart attack. Sadly it had a relatively poor safety profile in that disease and its application for approval was withdrawn. It is approved for other diseases. The analysis alluded to in lung cancer looked at emergent lung cancer in the 10061 subjects during the trial (CV trials are large because of a low event rate).
I read those articles a day or so ago when they turned up on Flipboard; looks very promising.
