Why do non-smokers get lung cancer?

If it isn’t bad enough that lung cancer remains Australia’s leading cause of cancer death (1), the fact that about a quarter of all cases of lung cancer cases occur in non-smokers is terrifying.

If it’s not cigarettes that’s causing a vulnerability to this deadly cancer then what is it?

You’re almost there! Just or sign up now to access your educational resources.

Well, newly published research from China (2) suggests it might be related to the bacteria that inhabit our mouths.

According to the large case-control study published recently in Thorax it seems people with a greater diversity of bacteria in their mouths (as determined by oral rinse samples) have a reduced risk of lung cancer.

In contrast, ‘lower alpha diversity was ...