Question: My daughter was just diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 35. Her doctor told us that many young women are now getting lung cancer. Why is this? 

(Answered by Dr. Narjust Florez from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute during her appearance at the February 2024 Lung Cancer Living Room. It has been edited slightly for this use.) 

Answer: Since 2018, for the first time in history younger women (roughly between the ages of 35 and 54) are getting more lung cancer than younger men, despite the perception that it is a disease that mostly affects men. This phenomenon is not only a phenomenon in the United States. It has been described in Brazil, France, the UK, Spain, India, and Australia too, so it’s something that’s happening globally. More and more women are getting the disease. 

I call lung cancer a “disease of women.” When you remove tobacco exposure, two-thirds of the cases of lung cancer globally are in women. Unfortunately, precision medicine has forgotten that men and women are equal, but different biologically speaking in many aspects.  

Women have higher estrogen receptors in the lungs compared to men. We have a particular cytochrome enzyme in women that has lower levels so when you are exposed to tobacco, you have a lower capacity of breaking down those toxins. Women require less packs (of cigarettes) to develop lung cancer compared to men because we have lower levels of that enzyme that inactivates some of the dangerous aspects of tobacco.  

In addition, pollution has been found to be different in women versus men. There is a particle called PM10 associated with outdoor pollution and lung cancer and that particle is significantly higher in women’s lung tissue compared to men’s, so when we are exposed to outside pollution, we’re also at higher risk for developing lung cancer compared to men.  

Immunobiologically speaking, we’re different because we’re designed/evolved to carry a fetus, so our immune system is very different and a lot of the therapies that we are using for lung cancer are based on immune response. Women tend to have a different immune response because we have to host a tenant for nine months and our immune system adapts to not reject the fetus. 

Please note that the information included in any published answer is for educational pursuit only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult their healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation. Nothing from GO2 for Lung Cancer should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a medical opinion.