WASHINGTON — Scientists might have found a way to tell which smokers are at highest risk of developing lung cancer by measuring a telltale genetic change inside their windpipes.
A test based on the research is being developed in hopes of detecting this cancer earlier, when it is more treatable.
Lung cancer — which killed nearly 160,000 Americans last year — is the leading cancer killer, and cigarette smoke is by far its main cause. Yet not all smokers develop lung cancer. About 10 percent to 20 percent will, said Dr. Avrum Spira of Boston University School of Medicine, who led the research published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Spira’s team found a genomic signature in otherwise normal windpipes that distinguishes some current or former smokers who had lung cancer from those who didn’t.
