Secondhand Smoke Increases Cisplatin Resistance in HNC

This transcript has been edited for clarity. 

Hello. I’m Dr Maurie Markman, from City of Hope. I would like to briefly discuss something I don’t normally talk about, which is preclinical data. These are really quite provocative data that one can certainly use appropriately in discussions with patients receiving chemotherapy, regarding potential risks that the therapy may not be as effective as it should be because of behaviors.

Let me explain. The paper was published recently in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. The paper is ” Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Extract Increases Cisplatin Resistance in Head and Neck Cancer Cells.”

I’m not a laboratory scientist and certainly not an expert in the pharmacology and toxicity of drugs against tumors in in vitro systems. I have to assume that the authors, reviewers, and editors were correct in the assumptions they made, including the level of smoke that might be achieved in the blood of an individual who was exposed to secondhand smoke.

The bottom line here is, assuming these assumptions are correct — and I have no reason to believe they’re not — these data demonstrate to me quite convincingly that the concentrations of the extract material in this smoke can significantly decrease the ability of cisplatin to kill tumor cells in this model. 

If this is even realistically possible to be translated into the human condition, one can argue that if you’re a patient with head and neck cancer receiving platinum — or potentially other tumor types, like germ cell tumors or gynecologic malignancies where cisplatin remains standard of care — and you have a loved one or family or friends near you who are smoking while you are being treated, the effectiveness of that treatment may be diminished significantly, to your detriment. 

Is this simply another very strong reason not to smoke, not to be around people who smoke, and to encourage your loved ones not to smoke — ever — but certainly not around you?

I encourage you to read this paper. It’s very provocative and concerning, and one more reason that people should not be smoking. I thank you for your attention.