{"id":859479,"date":"2026-09-24T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/859479\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:44:10","slug":"an-unlucky-trait-can-increase-your-lung-cancer-risk-by-62-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/859479\/","title":{"rendered":"An unlucky trait can increase your lung cancer risk by 62 times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Smoking<\/a> is a huge risk factor for lung cancer<\/a> \u2014 but it\u2019s not the only one.<\/p>\n

Researchers have found an alarming trait that can skyrocket a person\u2019s risk of developing this deadly disease. <\/p>\n

Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with cigarettes<\/a> and everything to do with genetics.<\/p>\n

\"AnResearchers have found a trait that can skyrocket a person\u2019s risk of developing lung cancer. Getty Images<\/p>\n

According to a new study<\/a>, a rare inherited germline mutation can increase lung cancer risk by 62 times in non-smokers. <\/p>\n

Smokers with this mutation are 25 times more likely to develop the disease.<\/p>\n

Tobacco\u00a0smoking<\/a>, however, is still the leading cause of lung cancer. This unhealthy habit heightens<\/a> lung cancer risk by four times in the general population.<\/p>\n

Even so, this study further shows that smokers are not the only ones susceptible to lung cancer \u2014 which is the second most common cancer in the US. This dangerous disease is also the prime cause of cancer deaths in both men and women, according to the American Cancer Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Which mutation is increasing lung cancer risk?<\/p>\n

As the study revealed, the T790M mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor gene is strongly related to lung cancer risk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ASmokers with this mutation are 25 times more likely to develop the disease. Getty Images<\/p>\n

EGFR is a protein that controls how cells grow and divide. When mutated, this protein can cause cancer cells to expand and spread.<\/p>\n

Researchers studied 23andMe genotyping data<\/a> across 3.37 million people and found the mutation to be prevalent in one in 15,850 individuals. Though 17 cancers and nonpulmonary conditions were evaluated, the T790M mutation only exhibited a significant association with lung cancer.<\/p>\n

The T790M mutation originated in Southern Appalachian populations\u00a0in the US about 200 to 225 years ago, according to the study.<\/p>\n

EGFR mutation-positive lung cancer accounts for around 10% to 15% of lung cancers in the US, with an increased occurrence in Asian populations, according to the American Lung Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How can lung cancer screening help?<\/p>\n

As with any cancer, screening and early detection for lung cancer can reduce the risk of death and increase life expectancy<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, screening for lung cancer<\/a> is based, essentially, solely on tobacco exposure,\u201d Dr. Pasi J\u00e4nne, a lung cancer specialist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute\u00a0and corresponding author, told<\/a> Fierce Biotech.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we\u2019ve identified a genetic component that is also a risk factor, and maybe these are individuals that would benefit from screening and early detection to identify cancers at an earlier early [sic] stage when they\u2019re still potentially curable.\u201d<\/p>\n

J\u00e4nne also pointed out that the study does not paint the entire picture regarding the lifetime risk of developing lung cancer in people who have the T790M mutation.\u00a0Environmental factors may also play a role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may be more nuances to the genetics of those individuals that modify the risk,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in the presence of this mutation or environmental exposures that modify the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientists have developed different therapies used to go after EGFR-mutated lung cancer, including AstraZeneca\u2019s Tagrisso and Johnson & Johnson\u2019s Rybrevant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, in August, BlossomHill<\/a> announced a macrocyclic molecule that targets EGFR, called BH-30643, to compete with Tagrisso.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Smoking is a huge risk factor for lung cancer \u2014 but it\u2019s not the only one. Researchers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[687,8006,200,97,39942,79,8116,3284],"class_list":["post-859479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-diseases","tag-genetics","tag-health","tag-lung-cancer","tag-science","tag-smoking","tag-study-says"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}