Smoking reduces survival in young females with lung adenocarcinoma after curative resection

Genetic variants of CHRNA5-A3 and CHRNB3-A6 predict survival of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) play a key role in carcinogenesis and progression of lung cancer; and polymorphisms in CHRNA5-A3 and CHRNB3-A6, two gene clusters encoding nAChR subunits, have been associated with lung cancer risk. In this study, we investigated whether variants in the two gene clusters were associated with prognosis of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A total of 165 stage IIIB–IV NSCLC patients were enrolled in this study. Three polymorphisms (rs667282 and rs3743073 in CHRNA5-A3 and rs13280604 in CHRNB3-A6) were genotyped using the TaqMan method. Overall survival (OS) was estimated using the log-rank test and the Cox models. Our results showed that patients with CHRNA5-A3 rs667282 TT or TC genotypes had a significantly shorter OS than those carrying the CC genotype (Log-rank, P = 0.043). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that rs667282 TT/TC genotypes are significantly associated with increased risk of overall deaths (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1–2.7). However, the similar results were not observed for other two polymorphisms. Furthermore, no evident association was found between these variants and clinicopathologic features of advanced NSCLC. Our present study suggested that rs667282 in CHRNA5-A3 may modify the prognosis of patients with advanced NSCLC.

Effect of smoking on survival from non-small cell lung cancer: a retrospective Veterans' Affairs Central Cancer Registry (VACCR) cohort analysis

Although a well-established risk factor for lung cancer, the impact of smoking on the survival of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not well known. We performed a retrospective analysis of the Veteran's Affairs Comprehensive Cancer Registry of NSCLC patients. Smoking status was categorized as never smoker, past smoker and current smoker based on self-reported history. Multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of smoking on overall survival (OS) from NSCLC. The study population (n = 61,440) comprised predominantly of males (98 %) and Caucasians (81 %). The median age at diagnosis was 68 years (range 22-108 years). Current smokers were diagnosed with NSCLC at a younger age (65 years) compared to never smokers (71 years) and past smokers (72 years) (p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, current smokers (n = 34,613) [Hazard ratio (HR) 1.059; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.012-1.108], but not past smokers (n = 23,864) (HR 1.008; 95 % CI 0.962-1.056), had worse OS for Stage III and IV NSCLC, compared to never smokers (n = 2,963). Smoking status was not prognostic in stages I and II NSCLC. Current smokers were diagnosed with NSCLC at a younger age than never smokers. Although current smoking was associated with worse prognosis, especially in stages III and IV, the impact of smoking status on OS was modest.