BACKGROUND Smoking leads to the aging of organs. However, no studies have been conducted to quantify the effect of smoking on the aging of respiratory organs and the aging-reversing ability of smoking cessation. RESULTS We collected genome-wide methylation datasets of buccal cells, airway cells, esophagus tissue, and lung tissue from non-smokers, smokers, and ex-smokers. We used the "epigenetic clock" method to quantify the epigenetic age acceleration in the four organs. The statistical analyses showed the following: (1) Smoking increased the epigenetic age of airway cells by an average of 4.9 years and lung tissue by 4.3 years. (2) After smoking ceased, the epigenetic age acceleration in airway cells (but not in lung tissue) slowed to a level that non-smokers had. (3) The epigenetic age acceleration in airway cells and lung tissue showed no gender difference. CONCLUSIONS Smoking can accelerate the epigenetic age of human respiratory organs, but the effect varies among organs and can be reversed by smoking cessation. Our study provides a powerful incentive to reduce tobacco consumption autonomously.

中文翻译：

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吸烟对人类呼吸器官表观遗传年龄的影响。

背景技术吸烟导致器官衰老。然而，还没有进行量化吸烟对呼吸器官衰老和戒烟逆转能力的研究。结果我们收集了来自非吸烟者，吸烟者和前吸烟者的颊细胞，气道细胞，食道组织和肺组织的全基因组甲基化数据集。我们使用“表观遗传钟”方法来量化四个器官中表观遗传的年龄加速。统计分析表明：（1）吸烟使气道细胞的表观遗传年龄平均延长了4.9年，使肺组织的平均寿命延长了4.3年。（2）停止吸烟后，气道细胞（而非肺组织）中表观遗传的年龄增长减慢到不吸烟者的水平。（3）气道细胞和肺组织的表观遗传年龄加速没有性别差异。结论吸烟可以加速人类呼吸器官的表观遗传年龄，但是这种效应在各个器官之间各不相同，并且可以通过戒烟来逆转。我们的研究为自主减少烟草消费提供了强有力的动力。