Genetic markers for smoking habits and lung damage identified

UK researchers have identified genetic differences that affect the likelihood of whether or not a person will smoke, as well as their predisposition to suffer from poor lung health.

The first analyses of genetic data from participants in the UK Biobank project saw data from 50,000 individuals selected based on their lung health and whether or not they were heavy smokers, or had never smoked.

In doing so, parts of the human genome never before associated with a person’s lung health were identified, as well as five sections of DNA shown for the first time to relate to being a heavy smoker.

This helps to explain why some people can have relatively good lung health despite smoking, whereas others suffer from lung conditions even if they have never smoked before.

Professor Ian Hall said: "Understanding how the genes are involved in disease or in addiction to tobacco can help us design and develop better and more targeted treatments that are likely to be more effective and have fewer side effects."

The scientists hope to expand the study to look at the genetics of all 500,000 participants when the data becomes available in 2016.