Smoking can rob several years out from your lifespan-Study warns

Washington, February 8:Cigarette smoking is widely known to be hazardous to health. Now a new study by University of Iowa researchers further warns that smoking speeds the aging process, leading smokers to die a decade or more before their time.

In their research, experts from University of Iowa have found a link between cigarette smoking and premature aging.

“Smoking can accelerate the aging process and shorten the lifespan by an average of more than 10 years,” said lead researcher Toru Nyunoya, who is assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and also a pulmonologist with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Nyunoya and colleagues claim to have found a protein the loss of which is responsible for shortening the lives of smokers. In their research, they found the similar aging effects seen in people with a rare genetic disorder called Werner's syndrome.

Werner's syndrome is a very rare, autosomal recessive disorder in the youngsters which is characterized by the appearance of premature aging. This hereditary disease of young adults is caused by a mutation in a gene called WRN that produces WRN protein which protects and mends DNA in every cell of the body.

For their research, Nyunoya and fellow researchers collected lung cells from smokers with emphysema, which is a progressive, incurable chronic lung condition. They found that the protein that is lost in Werner’s syndrome is decreased in smokers with chronic lung condition.

“We focused on what happens within the lungs because of the similar aging effects, including atherosclerotic diseases and cancerdefine, seen in people with Werner’s syndrome and people who smoke,” Nyunoya added.

After comparing lung fibroblasts (a type of cell) of the non-smokers without lung disease with the heavy-smokers having severe emphysema, the researchers found that cells of the latter group had lost their ability to divide or grow, giving clear indication that smoking habits cause cell aging.

In addition, these cells had comparatively lower levels of Werner’s syndrome protein.

"Our study may support efforts to target Werner's syndrome protein for use in developing treatments for smoking-related conditions such as emphysema," concluded Nyunoya who reported their findings in the Feb. 6 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.