India, July 25 -- A new study by a team of McGill researchers could help explain why people who have quit smoking remain at elevated risk of lung disease long after their last cigarette.

Their paper, published in Translational Research, provides one of the most detailed pictures to date of how quitting smoking affects the human lung at the cellular level.

"Our findings show that while some damage appears reversible, other changes persist long after people stop smoking," she said.

Using publicly available data, the researchers analyzed more than 100,000 lung cells from 21 people: nine who had never smoked, five current smokers and seven former smokers. The data captured molecular activity across more than 40 lung cell types, offering a ...