Genetic/epidemiological findings in a study of smoking-associated tumors

While the etiology of bronchogenic carcinoma remains enigmatic, an expanding array of carcinogenic pollutants in interaction with host susceptibility factors has been implicated. We have studied family histories of cancer in a consecutive series of cancer patients from two university oncology clinics in Nebraska. Particular attention has been given to carcinoma of the lung and other putative smoking-associated cancers (oral cavity, esophagus, urinary bladder, pancreas). Smoking histories were obtained for relatives of an overlapping series of patients with these tumor sites. Findings revealed that, although a significant cohort effect was observed with respect to smoking habits for both relatives of lung cancer probands and for relatives of probands with other smoking-associated tumors, a corresponding trend for lung cancer frequency was observed only for relatives of lung cancer probands. This result suggests the importance of host factors in combination with environmental exposures in determining lung risk. A cohort trend for lung cancer was also apparent among relatives of breast cancer probands, but not for relatives of colon cancer probands, suggesting the possibility of an intrinsic association between carcinomas of the breast and lung. We believe that further elucidation of host factor susceptibility in lung cancer may have important etiological and preventive implications.