Researchers say that cigarette smoke prevents breast cells from repairing their DNA, leading to cancer growth, HealthDay News reported Aug. 25.
University of Florida researchers exposed breast cells to cigarette-smoke ingredients in the lab. During exposure, the cells mutated, and the genetic disruption interfered with enzymes that repair DNA.
Cells that survived the damage could become cancerous if they begin to divide and multiply, said researcher Satya Narayan of the University of Florida College of Medicine.
"A defect in only one cell is important for growth of a full-blown tumor," he said. "You don't need 1,000 or one million cells to be affected. Only a single cell which may have genomic instability due to compromised DNA repair capacity of the cell can be sufficient for a tumor to develop."
The study is published in the current issue of Oncogene: http://www.nature.com/onc/index.html
