Postdoctoral researcher in cancer genomics at IARC-WHO | Previously IDIBAPS and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Laura Torrens
7/ Last but not least, a huge thanks to our fantastic team & collaborators from IARC-WHO, @sangerinstitute.bsky.social, @ucsandiego.bsky.social
and many more who made this work possible! 💡🔬 Also to @cancergrand.bsky.social for fantastic support, as well as to the patients and their families ♥️
The #CancerGrandChallenges Mutographs team reveals how tobacco smoke damages DNA to drive different types of head and neck cancer 🧬
They also show that smoking combined with drinking alcohol can more than double the damaging effect on DNA ⤵️
www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/sc...
Laura Torrens
3/ Our findings confirm tobacco as the main mutagen in HNC, but with a twist: we identified six distinct tobacco-related mutational signatures, which could be caused by different carcinogens in cigarette smoke. 🚬
1/ At least 1 in 2 cancers is linked to modifiable risk factors. Identifying these exposures and understanding their effects is key to prevention, but challenging due to global differences in lifestyles & environments. 🌍
2/ To tackle this, we analyzed whole-genome data from 265 HNC cases across 8 countries in Europe & South America—offering an unprecedented geographical representation of cases.
4/ We also found that tobacco-induced mutations vary by anatomical site in the head & neck, suggesting that tissue-specific factors modulate mutagenesis.
6/ These findings deepen our understanding of how tobacco & alcohol contribute to HNC, reinforcing the urgent need for prevention efforts to reduce these exposures globally. 🚭
Hello world! Kicking off my first post with some exciting news 📣 Our study on tobacco smoke-induced mutagenesis in head & neck cancer (HNC) is out today in
@naturegenet.bsky.social! rdcu.be/efNiH 🧬🔥
We uncover the multiple ways tobacco and alcohol drive HNC development. A short thread 🧵⬇️
5/ And there’s more: cases exposed to both tobacco & alcohol had more alcohol-related mutations than alcohol-only cases, suggesting a combined effect. 🍷➕🚬🟰🙅♀️
