Tobacco.org

• Women who smoke: are women more susceptible to tobacco-induced lung cancer?  

The importance of sex difference in lung cancer risk is a current topic of debate. Recent epidemiological and laboratory studies may indicate a sex difference. However, the mechanisms are still unknown and so far little research has been done at the experimental level. Appropriate studies include identifying factors related to sex that influence the initiation, promotion and progression steps in lung carcinogenesis (Figure 1). Lungs in males and females experience a different hormonal environment. Levels of many hormones are different in males and females and many of them are powerful regulators of gene expression. Important elements in lung carcinogenesis may be hormonal regulation of genes involved in the metabolism of tobacco carcinogens and DNA repair, interactions of smoking and hormone status, hormones and the activation of growth promoting pathways, cross talk between various signalling pathways and the interaction between stroma and epithelial cells during tumor development.

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