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Nature 452, 537-538 (3 April 2008) | doi:10.1038/452537a; Published online 2 April 2008

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Genomics: When the smoke clears ...

Stephen J. Chanock1 & David J. Hunter2

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Three studies identify an association between genetic variation at a location on chromosome 15 and risk of lung cancer. But they disagree on whether the link is direct or mediated through nicotine dependence.

The characterization of variation in the human genome has begun to pay dividends. These are mainly being delivered through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), provided that they are sufficiently large and are followed by replication of the notable findings.

  1. Stephen J. Chanock is in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4605, USA.
    Email: chanocks@mail.nih.gov
  2. David J. Hunter is in the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
    Email: dhunter@hsph.harvard.edu