Is there a link between wildfire smoke and increased cancer risk?

In this interview from the AACR Annual Meeting 2026, Shuguang Leng, MBBS, PhD, an associate professor at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the link between exposure to wildfire smoke and increased cancer risk. Dr. Leng and his team used data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial to evaluate how wildfire-related particulate matter affects cancer incidence and identified risks in nonpulmonary organs such as the bladder.