Lung Cancer Risks Genetic

The team found that two of the 10 SNPs were consistently associated with lung cancer risk and both are located in chromosome 15 inside a region that contains the gene.

The recent study was published by researchers at John Hopkins University, as part of a multi-institutional study, collected DNA from 1,154 smokers who have lung cancer and 1,137 smokers without lung cancer.

Researchers then analyzed each DNA sample for variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, between those with cancer and those without cancer. They then analyzed the top 10 SNPs in an additional 5,075 DNA samples from both groups.

The team found that two of the 10 SNPs were consistently associated with lung cancer risk and both are located in chromosome 15 inside a region that contains genes for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha subunits 3 and 5, which already are suspected of playing a role in lung cancer progression.

The University researchers also found the same two SNPs are associated with smoking behavior.

The research that included scientists from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the University of Cambridge in Britain appears in the journal Nature Genetics.

DeCODE Genetics of Iceland already has incorporated the discovery into a package of standardized tests it sells to the skeptical public, offering consumers genetic profiles that estimate a person's risk for 26 complex conditions including prostate cancer, diabetes and even male-pattern baldness.