"A pack of cigarettes a day is as happy as a fairy" is a realistic portrayal of many old smokers.
Smoking may be to relieve anxiety and tension, to gain social acceptance, or to seek excitement and refreshment.
But at the same time, smoking will cause physical dependence and affect health.
Long-term smoking can induce DNA mutation in lung cells, leading to lung cancer.
Although 70% of smoking-related lung cancer deaths occur in the elderly, there are still a large number of "heavy smokers" who do not have lung cancer.
So what "superpowers" do these "surviving" heavy smokers have?
Long-term smoking without lung cancer stems from the ability to limit gene mutation.
On April 1 1, 2022, the research team of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the United States published a research result on NatureGenetics entitled "Single cell analysis of variables in human bronchi lepithelialcell related to Africa and Africa".
Studies have found that some long-term smokers may have some powerful abilities to limit DNA mutations to protect them from lung cancer.
The risk of lung cancer in smokers depends on the smoking dose, but it is not clear whether this increased risk depends on the increase of somatic mutation accumulation rate in normal lung cells.
In this study, the researchers studied the bronchial basal cells of14186-year-old never smokers and 19 44-8 1 year-old smokers (the average smoking amount was 65448) by using single cell multiplex substitution amplification (SCMDA) technology.
The mutation load of a single bronchial epithelial cell caused by aging and lifelong exposure to tobacco smoke was quantitatively analyzed to analyze the respective effects of these two key carcinogens.
*: A pack of years is a way to measure a person's long-term smoking. Its calculation method is to multiply the number of packages smoked every day by the number of years that the person smokes. For example, 1 pack year is equivalent to 1 pack every day, or 2 packs every day for half a year, and so on.
The results found
1, the cumulative mutation of PBBCs from never smokers increases with age;
2. The cumulative mutation of PBBCs in smokers also increases with age, but the mutation rate increases obviously;
3. The number of 3.PBBCs cell mutations increases linearly with the increase of smoking dose, which significantly increases the risk of lung cancer. Surprisingly, when the smoking volume reaches 23 packs per year, the mutation rate does not increase further.
4. People who smoke the most may not have the highest mutation load, such as reducing DNA damage by improving the accuracy of DNA repair, or detoxifying tobacco smoke, thus inhibiting mutation accumulation and reducing the risk of lung cancer.
The lung is the first organ injured by smoking.
1. Lung cancer
There are more than 100 carcinogens in tobacco, and more than 70 carcinogens in tobacco smoke. Epidemiological studies show that the occurrence and development of lung cancer is the result of the interaction between heredity and environment, among which smoking is still the biggest risk factor.
Compared with non-smokers, smokers are 22 times more likely to develop lung cancer.
2. Chronic respiratory diseases
Tobacco smoke is a kind of toxic particles, containing nicotine and other chemicals, which has the function of active oxidant, can induce inflammation after reaching the gas exchange zone, and has genetic toxicity.
Smoking is the main cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which refers to the accumulation of mucus filled with pus in the lungs, leading to painful cough and dyspnea.
Because smoking can significantly slow down lung development, people who start smoking at a young age are particularly at high risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Tobacco can also aggravate asthma, thus limiting activities and leading to disability. Quitting smoking as soon as possible is the most effective treatment to slow down the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and improve asthma symptoms.
3. Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease involving respiratory system.
Common clinical symptoms such as fever, cough, expectoration, fatigue, emaciation, dyspnea, chest pain, hemoptysis and so on. Will lead to the decline of patients' quality of life and social behavior ability. Smoking can lead to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, which is obviously related to smoking years and smoking intensity. Secondhand smoke exposure can also increase the risk of tuberculosis and tuberculosis. As we all know, smoking has a negative impact on health, but there are not a few people who gamble that they have a "detoxification gene". Some people selectively ignore it, taking a few "survivors" as examples to illustrate the rationality of smoking, but ignore more cases of losing health and even life because of smoking. Life is only a few decades, and the choice of quality, quantity or both is in your hands!