Scientists of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST) and other research institutes have discovered mutational signatures in cancer caused by cigarette smoking. 

The international collaboration of KAIST, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and others introduced the finding in the global journal, “Science,” on Friday.

The group made the discoveries after examining mutational signatures and DNA methylation changes in five-thousand-243 genome sequences from 17 different cancer types linked to smoking.

The group found that there was a large number of such mutational signatures in tissues directly exposed to inhaled smoke.
 
KAIST Prof. Ju Young-seok explained that the study is significant in that it systematically quantified the effects of smoking on the human body using genomic big data. He said genomic technology will play a pivotal role in the areas of health and medicine in the future.