Smoking 'contributes' to oxidatively induced DNA damage

Liquid chromatography has been used in a study to see whether smoking cessation has an effect on reversing oxidatively induced DNA damage.

The report, taken from Tobacco Induced Diseases, looked at how three DNA lesions reduced after participants had kicked the habit.

A sample of people from a 16-week smoking cessation clinical trial were used, with blood samples taken and leukocyte DNA extracted for the 3 DNA lesions through liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

Following this, a change in lesions over time was looked at using generalised estimating equations, taking into account gender, age and treatment condition.

"Results from this analysis suggest that cigarette smoking contributes to oxidatively induced DNA damage, and that smoking cessation appears to reduce levels of specific damage markers between 30-50 percent in the short term," the report concluded.

Recently, a smoking ban in public places was introduced in China, affecting more than 300 million people.