Mechanisms Contributing to the Comorbidity of COPD and Lung Cancer
department or school: Medicine, Faculty of
department or school: Other UBC
department or school: Non UBC
department or school: Medical Genetics, Department of
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24 (3): 2859 (2023)
contributor: BC Cancer Research Centre
contributor: Children's Hospital (Vancouver, B.C.). Research Institute
creator: Forder, Aisling
creator: Zhuang, Rebecca
creator: Souza, Vanessa G. P.
creator: Brockley, Liam J.
creator: Pewarchuk, Michelle E.
creator: Telkar, Nikita
creator: Stewart, Greg L.
creator: Benard, Katya
creator: Marshall, Erin A.
creator: Reis, Patricia P.
creator: Lam, Wan
issued: 2025-02-07T18:02:03Z
issued: 2023-02-02
description: Lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often co-occur, and individuals with COPD are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer. While the underlying mechanism for this risk is not well understood, its major contributing factors have been proposed to include genomic, immune, and microenvironment dysregulation. Here, we review the evidence and significant studies that explore the mechanisms underlying the heightened lung cancer risk in people with COPD. Genetic and epigenetic changes, as well as the aberrant expression of non-coding RNAs, predispose the lung epithelium to carcinogenesis by altering the expression of cancer- and immune-related genes. Oxidative stress generated by tobacco smoking plays a role in reducing genomic integrity, promoting epithelial-mesenchymal-transition, and generating a chronic inflammatory environment. This leads to abnormal immune responses that promote cancer development, though not all smokers develop lung cancer. Sex differences in the metabolism of tobacco smoke predispose females to developing COPD and accumulating damage from oxidative stress that poses a risk for the development of lung cancer. Dysregulation of the lung microenvironment and microbiome contributes to chronic inflammation, which is observed in COPD and known to facilitate cancer initiation in various tumor types. Further, there is a need to better characterize and identify the proportion of individuals with COPD who are at a high risk for developing lung cancer. We evaluate possible novel and individualized screening strategies, including biomarkers identified in genetic studies and exhaled breath condensate analysis. We also discuss the use of corticosteroids and statins as chemopreventive agents to prevent lung cancer. It is crucial that we optimize the current methods for the early detection and management of lung cancer and COPD in order to improve the health outcomes for a large affected population.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/90335
note: Citation: Forder, A.; Zhuang, R.;Souza, V.G.P.; Brockley, L.J.;Pewarchuk, M.E.; Telkar, N.; Stewart,G.L.; Benard, K.; Marshall, E.A.; Reis,P.P.; et al. Mechanisms Contributingto the Comorbidity of COPD andLung Cancer. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24,2859. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24032859Academic Editor: Paolo CameliReceived: 30 November 2022Revised: 18 January 2023Accepted: 22 January 2023Published: 2 February 2023Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This article is an open access articledistributed under the terms andconditions of the Creative CommonsAttribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). International Journal of Molecular SciencesReviewMechanisms Contributing to the Comorbidity of COPD andLung CancerAisling Forder 1,2,*,†, Rebecca Zhuang 1,2,†, Vanessa G. P. Souza 1,3 , Liam J. Brockley 1,2,Michelle E. Pewarchuk 1,2, Nikita Telkar 1,2,4,5 , Greg L. Stewart 1,2, Katya Benard 1, Erin A. Marshall 1,2 ,Patricia P. Reis 3 and Wan L. Lam 1,21 British Columbia Cancer Research Institute, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1L3, Canada2 Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada3 Molecular Oncology Laboratory, Experimental Research Unit, School of Medicine,São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu 18618-687, SP, Brazil4 Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6H 3N1, Canada5 British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4H4, Canada* Correspondence: aforder@bccrc.ca† These authors contributed equally to this work.Abstract: Lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often co-occur, and indi-viduals with COPD are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer. While the underlying mechanismfor this risk is not well understood, its major contributing factors have been proposed to include ge-nomic, immune, and microenvironment dysregulation. Here, we review the evidence and significantstudies that explore th…
has type: Article
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0448036
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publisher DOI: 10.3390/ijms24032859
rights: CC BY 4.0
rights URI: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
scholar level: Researcher
subject: COPD
subject: lung cancer
subject: pathogenesis
subject: microbiome
subject: immune microenvironment
subject: genomic alterations
subject: epigenetics
subject: lung cancer screening
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90335