BMJ 2015;350:h2644 doi: 10.1136/bmj.h2644 (Published 18 May 2015)
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Research News
RESEARCH NEWS Cheek swab can detect early signs of cancer, study indicates Jacqui Wise London
DNA damage caused by smoking can be detected in cheek swab samples, a study published in JAMA Oncology concludes.1 Researchers from University College London analysed buccal samples from 790 women all born in 1946 and 152 matched blood samples from the Medical Research Council’s National Survey of Health and Development. Smoking history and smoking status were also collected.
They found that buccal cells in women who had smoked had numerous epigenetic alterations. Buccal cells showed a 40-fold increase in the number of abnormal methylation sites when compared with matched blood samples, making them a more reliable indicator of DNA changes.
cause cancer. These results pave the way for other studies in which easily accessible cells can be used as proxies to highlight epigenetic changes that may indicate a risk of developing cancer at a site where cells are inaccessible. This is incredibly exciting for women’s cancers such as ovary, breast, and endometrial cancer where predicting the cancer risk is a big challenge.”
Widschwendter added, “The results also demonstrated that smoking related DNA damage to the epigenome of certain genes had been reversed in ex-smokers who had quit 10 years previously before sample collection, highlighting the key health benefits of quitting smoking or not taking it up at all.”
The researchers then analysed over 5000 tissue samples, including normal tissue, precancerous tissue, and cancer tissue from 15 different types of epithelial cancer. They found that epigenetic changes originally identified in normal buccal cells of smokers could be used to discriminate between normal and cancerous tissue with almost 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity, regardless of the organ from which the cancer arose. The study also found that the presence of these epigenetic changes made it very likely that a preinvasive cancer lesion would progress to a full blown invasive cancer. And the absence of the faulty programme made it likely that the precancer could potentially regress and disappear. One of the coauthors, Martin Widschwendter, said, “We are a big step closer now to unravelling how environmental factors
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
1
Teschendorff A, Yang Z, Wong A, et al. Correlation of smoking associated DNA methylation changes in buccal cells with DNA methylation changes in epithelial cancer. JAMA Oncology May 2015, doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.1053.
Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h2644 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
Page 1 of 1
Research News
RESEARCH NEWS Cheek swab can detect early signs of cancer, study indicates Jacqui Wise London
DNA damage caused by smoking can be detected in cheek swab samples, a study published in JAMA Oncology concludes.1 Researchers from University College London analysed buccal samples from 790 women all born in 1946 and 152 matched blood samples from the Medical Research Council’s National Survey of Health and Development. Smoking history and smoking status were also collected.
They found that buccal cells in women who had smoked had numerous epigenetic alterations. Buccal cells showed a 40-fold increase in the number of abnormal methylation sites when compared with matched blood samples, making them a more reliable indicator of DNA changes.
cause cancer. These results pave the way for other studies in which easily accessible cells can be used as proxies to highlight epigenetic changes that may indicate a risk of developing cancer at a site where cells are inaccessible. This is incredibly exciting for women’s cancers such as ovary, breast, and endometrial cancer where predicting the cancer risk is a big challenge.”
Widschwendter added, “The results also demonstrated that smoking related DNA damage to the epigenome of certain genes had been reversed in ex-smokers who had quit 10 years previously before sample collection, highlighting the key health benefits of quitting smoking or not taking it up at all.”
The researchers then analysed over 5000 tissue samples, including normal tissue, precancerous tissue, and cancer tissue from 15 different types of epithelial cancer. They found that epigenetic changes originally identified in normal buccal cells of smokers could be used to discriminate between normal and cancerous tissue with almost 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity, regardless of the organ from which the cancer arose. The study also found that the presence of these epigenetic changes made it very likely that a preinvasive cancer lesion would progress to a full blown invasive cancer. And the absence of the faulty programme made it likely that the precancer could potentially regress and disappear. One of the coauthors, Martin Widschwendter, said, “We are a big step closer now to unravelling how environmental factors
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
1
Teschendorff A, Yang Z, Wong A, et al. Correlation of smoking associated DNA methylation changes in buccal cells with DNA methylation changes in epithelial cancer. JAMA Oncology May 2015, doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.1053.
Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h2644 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
