How smoking sets the stage for lung cancer, glimpsed in new study

Na Wang, Raksha Padaki, Sara-Jayne Thursby and Michelle Vaz, ‘Chronic Cigarette Smoke Exposure Induces Distinct Stem Cell States Driving Genetic Driver-specific Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Subtypes’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 123, Issue No. 42, October 5, 2026

Oncologists have long wrestled with a conundrum. Healthy human tissue often carries mutations that can drive cancer, but the tissue itself does not develop tumours. Clearly, a genetic spark alone is not enough. At the same time, chronic inflammation from smoking profoundly damages lung tissue long before any definitive cancer-causing mutations even take root.