How air polution triggers cancer

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The Crick scientists focused on a form of pollution called particulate matter 2.5 (known as PM2.5), which is far smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

Through a series of detailed human and animal experiments they showed:

• Places with higher levels of air pollution had more lung cancers not caused by smoking
• Breathing in PM2.5 leads to the release of a chemical alarm - interleukin-1-beta - in the lungs
• This causes inflammation and activates cells in the lungs to help repair any damage
• But around one in every 600,000 cells in the lungs of a 50-year-old already contains potentially cancerous mutations
• These are acquired as we age but appear completely healthy until they are activated by the chemical alarm and become cancerous

Crucially, the researchers were able to stop cancers forming in mice exposed to air pollution by using a drug that blocks the alarm signal.

The idea of taking a cancer-blocking pill if you live in a heavily polluted area is not completely fanciful.
Doctors have already trialled an interleukin-1-beta drug in cardiovascular disease and found, by complete accident, they cut the risk of lung cancer.

Air pollution cancer breakthrough will rewrite the rules

Research shows that cancers might not always be caused by DNA mutations, as previously thought.

www.bbc.co.uk