Smokers are less likely to survive skin cancer

Smoking could limit the body's ability to fight against skin cancer, suggests a study done in the UK.

Photo: Pixabay (Archive)

Patients with melanoma and having a history of addiction are 40% less likely to survive this disease compared to people who have never smoked, according to the study published in the journal Cancer Research.

Researchers at the University of Leeds noted that this finding was another reason to stop smoking altogether.

The immune response of the smokers studied has been less effective than that of those who have never smoked, which reduces their chances of survival, as scientists have pointed out.

"The immune system appears to be an orchestra and has multiple components," said Julia Newton-Bishop, lead author of the Cancer Research UK study.

"This research suggests that smoking would disrupt the harmony in which everything works, musicians can play without moving, but in a disorganized way," she added.

The study relies on data collected from over seven hundred patients with melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer that spreads to other organs. According to research findings, smokers and former smokers were 40% less likely to survive 10 years after diagnosis, compared to people who have never smoked.

In a small group of 156 patients with many genetic markers of immune cells, smokers had about four and a half times less chance of survival than nonsmokers.

As smokers in this group had less chance of survival, scientists noted that it was possible that cigarettes directly affect the body's ability to fight cancer cells in melanoma.

"The result indicates that the smoker's body can trigger an immune response to try to destroy melanoma, but it appears to be less effective than non-smokers and smokers are less likely to survive the cancer they have been diagnosed," he says. explained Newton-Bishop.

"Based on these findings, stopping smoking should be highly recommended to people with melanoma," added the specialist.

The researchers said that although the study identified an association between smoking and survival chances in melanomas, it does not show that smoking is directly responsible for this decline.

"Overall, the results show that smoking could limit the chances of survival for patients with melanoma, so it is particularly important to give them all the support they need to stop smoking altogether," said Dr. Julia. Sharp Cancer Research UK. . ziare.com