Scientists Reveal How Smoking Triggers Genetic Changes

LONDON -- Researchers have unraveled a key mechanism by which smoking triggers genetic changes that cause lung cancer. Exposure to cigarette smoke slows production of a protein called FANCD2 in lung cells and this protein plays a key role in repairing damage to DNA, and causing faulty cells to commit suicide before they go on to become cancerous, BBC reported Wednesday, quoting a study by American researchers which appears in the British Journal of Cancer. Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University created an artificial windpipe in the lab to replicate the environment of a smoker's lung, then studied the effects of cigarette smoke on different proteins in cells and found that FANCD2 levels were low enough to a...