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Largest ever genetic analysis of colorectal cancer reveals DNA damage caused by tobacco and gut bacteria
Colorectal cancer causes the death of almost a million people each year worldwide. On Wednesday, the largest genetic study ever conducted on this tumour revealed its fatal DNA errors.
The authors analysed the complete genome, letter by letter, of more than 2,000 colon and rectal cancers from patients in the 100,000 Genomes Project, a British initiative to read the DNA of cancer cells or cells with rare diseases.
Computational biologist Claudia Arnedo, 30, participated in the work. “We have been able to describe the most complete set of mutational signatures in colorectal cancer to date,” she says. Mutational signatures are alterations in the sequence of letters, caused by a specific mechanism. For example, the so-called SBS4 (single base substitution) is caused by tobacco consumption.
Arnedo, working at the University of Cambridge, explains that around 100 mutational signatures have been identified, most of unknown origin. The new study has revealed the importance of SBS93.
SBS93 appeared in one in three tumours analysed, especially in tumours diagnosed at a younger age. “We still do not know the mechanism that causes it, but we have identified that it tends to occur together with other mutational signatures, including some of those that have been associated with alcohol and tobacco consumption, which suggests that SBS93 may have a similar origin,”.
The new results confirm that the tobacco industry is the number one enemy of global public health, as warned by the doctor Elisabete Weiderpass, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in an interview with EL PAÍS.
Biologist José Tubío, from the University of Santiago de Compostela, is urging authorities to “apply much more drastic preventive measures, such as prohibiting tobacco for the new generations of young people.” The UK government has committed to reintroduce legislation that will prohibit the sale of tobacco to people born after 2008, starting from 2027.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer and the second most common cause of death in the world, after lung cancer. Thanks to medical advances, the five-year survival rate has now reached 65%. In recent years, the incidence of colorectal cancer has been mysteriously increasing in people under 50, at an alarming rate of 3% each year in many countries. The main suspects are obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and sugary drinks.
See also: Nature - The genomic landscape of 2,023 colorectal cancers
Source: EL PAÍS, 7 August 2024
Editorial note: We have made a change from the original article which said “In April, The United Kingdom approved a law that will prohibit the sale tobacco to people born after 2008, starting from 2027”. We have made this change to more accurately reflect the progress of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
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USA: How do teens quit vaping? Some simply send a text for help, new study shows
Among adolescents with a history of vaping, those who participated in a first-of-its-kind text message program called This is Quitting were 35% more likely to report that they had quit vaping after seven months compared with adolescents who did not participate in the program, according to a study published Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA.
This is Quitting was developed by Truth Initiative, a nonprofit focused on ending tobacco use, as a free and anonymous text messaging program to help young people quit vaping.
“This is the first study to demonstrate the effectiveness of any quit vaping program for adolescents. It’s also a program that has been used by more than 780,000 young people nationwide since Truth Initiative launched it in 2019,” said Dr. Amanda Graham, chief health officer at Truth Initiative and principal investigator of the study.
The new study included more than 1,500 adolescents in the United States, ages 13 to 17, who reported vaping in the previous 30 days, with about 76% reporting that they vape within 30 minutes of waking up, a signal of nicotine dependence.
Most of the study participants, about 87%, reported that they had tried to quit in the previous year, and about 94% reported feeling somewhat or very addicted to vaping.
The text message program included messages designed to build confidence and skills for quitting, including cognitive and behavioural coping strategies, mindfulness training, breathing training, self-care advice, social support, information about cessation medication and how to reach the Crisis Text Line.
The researchers found that after seven months had gone by, about 38% of participants in the This is Quitting program reported not vaping in the previous 30 days, compared with 28% in the assessment-only group.
Among adolescents who both vaped and smoked traditional cigarettes, a higher proportion in the This is Quitting program, about 51%, reported not vaping nor smoking at seven months, compared with 30% of the assessment-only group.
The study included a diverse group of adolescents, indicating how the text message program could be helpful for marginalized communities, said Dr. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine.
The new study is important because there are few e-cigarette cessation programs that are free of cost and accessible for adolescents, Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, a developmental psychologist at Stanford University, wrote in an editorial published alongside the study in JAMA.
She added that there is also an “absence of studies” on the effects and dosage of nicotine replacement therapy, or NRT, for adolescents as a way to help them quit vaping. Nicotine replacement therapy is the family of medications used to help adults quit using nicotine, including over-the-counter patches, gums or lozenges or prescription inhalers or nasal sprays.
“Furthermore, the US Food and Drug Administration has not approved NRTs for anyone younger than 18 years (although many health care professionals prescribe NRTs for adolescents, as is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics). As such, it is imperative that e-cigarette cessation programs focused on adolescents are developed, evaluated, and implemented,” Halpern-Felsher wrote.
See also: JAMA - A Vaping Cessation Text Message Program for Adolescent E-Cigarette Users
Source: CNN, 7 August 2024
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Philip Morris gets round Dutch flavoured tobacco ban
Tobacco giant Philip Morris is getting around the ban on flavoured tobacco and vape products in the Netherlands by introducing a new cigarette replacement made from cellulose.
The product, named Levia, is sold in packs of 20 and the nicotine-containing sticks are based on cellulose rather than tobacco, so don’t fall under the ban. The sticks, which retail online for at €6.60 per pack are sold in two flavours – island beat, which is menthol, and berry-flavoured electro-rouge.
Menthol cigarettes have been banned in the Netherlands since May 2020 and flavoured vape products since the beginning of this year.
Users insert the sticks – which look like white, traditional cigarettes – into a vape-like holder which heats the product to release the chemicals rather than burns it.
The Dutch product safety board NVWA told the paper it cannot act against Levia because it is considered a herb product not covered by the anti-tobacco legislation. However, change may be on the way because of an amendment to the law which will also regulate nicotine products without tobacco, the agency said.
Source: Dutch News, 6 August 2024
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