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Vitamin derivative may cut cancer in ex-smokers
Ex-smokers' risk of lung cancer could be reduced by a derivative of Vitamin A, a new piece of research has suggested.
The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that ex-smokers who took retinoic acid over a three-month period were less likely to develop some telltale signs of lung cancer than those taking a placebo.
However, the treatment only appeared to affect one layer of tissue, and cancer experts say a lot of further work is required to understand its exact impact before clinical trials would be possible.
Speaking to BBC News, Josephine Querido of Cancer Research UK stressed that quitting smoking was still by far the best way for smokers to reduce their risk. 'These early results are intriguing, but much more work is needed before we know for sure whether these chemicals could prevent, or slow, lung cancer growth.'
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK. In the developed world, smoking tobacco causes 90% of all lung cancers in men, and 86% in women.
An ex-smoker's risk of cancer is thought to return to just above the level of a non-smoker after about 15 years.
Category: Healthcare
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