Genetic analysis of second primary lung cancers in patients surviving small cell lung cancer

We performed genetic analysis on 12 second primary non-small cell lung cancers in patients surviving small cell lung cancer to assess the potential contribution of smoking to the development of these tumors. Mutations of TP53 were found in three (25%) tumors, KRAS2 in three (25%) tumors, and CDKN2 in two (18%) tumors. Four (50%) mutations (one each in TP53 and CDKN2 and two in KRAS2) were G:C to T:A transversions on the coding strand, a mutation accounting for approximately one-third of mutations in smoking-related tumors but uncommonly found in lung cancers not associated with smoking. The genetic changes in these second lung cancers are more representative of smoking-associated malignancies than lung cancers arising in patients occupationally exposed to irradiation and atomic bomb survivors.