Smoking is a big risk factor for lung cancer
Jump to full article: BBC Online, 2002-07-09
Intro: Smokers who inherit a particular faulty gene could triple their chances of getting lung cancer, research suggests.
Tobacco is the biggest cause of lung cancer, but the risk that smokers will develop the disease varies.
This has led scientists to believe that genetics may play a part in deciding who is most susceptible to the disease.
German researchers have found that a quarter of patients with the most common form of lung cancer carry a particular version of a gene involved in keeping the airways clear.
By contrast only 9% of healthy people carried it.
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