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The Field of Tissue Injury in the Lung and Airway

Authors' Affiliations: ¹ The Pulmonary Center and ² Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine; and ³ Bioinformatics Program, College of Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts

Requests for reprints: Katrina Steiling, Boston University Medical Center, 72 East Concord Street R-304, Boston, MA 02118. Phone: 617-638-4860; Fax: 617-536-8093; E-mail: steiling{at}bu.edu.

The concept of field cancerization was first introduced over 6 decades ago in the setting of oral cancer. Later, field cancerization involving histologic and molecular changes of neoplasms and adjacent tissue began to be characterized in smokers with or without lung cancer. Investigators also described a diffuse, nonneoplastic field of molecular injury throughout the respiratory tract that is attributable to cigarette smoking and susceptibility to smoking-induced lung disease. The potential molecular origins of field cancerization and the field of injury following cigarette smoke exposure in lung and airway epithelia are critical to understanding their potential impact on clinical diagnostics and therapeutics for smoking-induced lung disease.

Key Words: field of injury • field cancerization • lung cancer • tobacco smoke • molecular diagnosis and prognosis

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