Articolo in rivista, 2023, ENG, 10.3390/cancers15082395

Lung Adenocarcinoma Diagnosed at a Younger Age Is Associated with Advanced Stage, Female Sex, and Ever-Smoker Status, in Patients Treated with Lung Resection

Dragani, Tommaso A.; Muley, Thomas; Schneider, Marc A.; Kobinger, Sonja; Eichhorn, Martin; Winter, Hauke; Hoffmann, Hans; Kriegsmann, Mark; Noci, Sara; Incarbone, Matteo; Tosi, Davide; Franzi, Sara; Colombo, Francesca

IRCCS Multimedica; Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München; Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Milano; Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan; Institute of Biomedical Technologies-CNR; Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg; Thoraxklinik am Universitatsklinikum Heidelberg; Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL)

To date, the factors which affect the age at diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma are not fully understood. In our study, we examined the relationships of age at diagnosis with smoking, pathological stage, sex, and year of diagnosis in a discovery (n = 1694) and validation (n = 1384) series of lung adenocarcinoma patients who had undergone pulmonary resection at hospitals in the Milan area and at Thoraxklinik (Heidelberg), respectively. In the discovery series, younger age at diagnosis was associated with ever-smoker status (OR = 1.5, p = 0.0035) and advanced stage (taking stage I as reference: stage III OR = 1.4, p = 0.0067; stage IV OR = 1.7, p = 0.0080), whereas older age at diagnosis was associated with male sex (OR = 0.57, p < 0.001). Analysis in the validation series confirmed the ever versus never smokers' association (OR = 2.9, p < 0.001), the association with highest stages (stage III versus stage I OR = 1.4, p = 0.0066; stage IV versus stage I OR = 2.0, p = 0.0022), and the male versus female sex association (OR = 0.78, p = 0.032). These data suggest the role of smoking in affecting the natural history of the disease. Moreover, aggressive tumours seem to have shorter latency from initiation to clinical detection. Finally, younger age at diagnosis is associated with the female sex, suggesting that hormonal status of young women confers risk to develop lung adenocarcinoma. Overall, this study provided novel findings on the mechanisms underlying age at diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma.

Cancers (Basel) 15 (8)

Keywords

cigarette, latency, smoking

CNR authors

Colombo Francesca

CNR institutes

ITB – Istituto di tecnologie biomediche