How cigarette smoke affects smokers

WASHINGTON, April 7 (UPI) -- Cigarette smoke can affect nearly every organ in the body by promoting cell damage and causing inflammation, U.S. researchers suggest.

Lead investigator Ping-Ching Hsu, a doctoral student who works in the laboratory of oncology researcher Dr. Peter Shields of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Georgetown University Medical Center, showed how cigarette smoke produces different "metabolites" or active biological compounds, in individual smokers, compared to non-smokers.

The researchers analyzed hundreds of metabolites found in the blood and urine of nine smokers and 10 non-smokers and then narrowed the study down to the top 50 metabolites in smokers and non-smokers. The levels of nicotine-related metabolites varied in the smokers' groups and there were variations between men and women.

"This gives us an idea of how people produce metabolites differently when smoking cigarettes, which is based on their particular genetic profile and other biological and environmental factors," the researchers say in a statement.

The findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 102nd annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.