178P Germline genetic variants associated with different premalignant lesions in the bronchial epithelium

Stepwise change of the bronchial epithelium, from basal cell hyperplasia (BCH) across squamous metaplasia (SM) and dysplasia to carcinoma in situ, is a precancerous process preceding lung squamous cell carcinoma. The premalignant changes may stop or spontaneously regress up to normal epithelium; however, underlying mechanisms are still not understood. Previously, we suggested that combinations of bronchial lesions detected in the small bronchi of lung cancer patients distant from the primary lung tumor may reflect the different “scenarios” of the precancerous process (Denisov et al., 2019, 2020).