Smoking-responsive DNA methylation changes at other loci are associated with risk of lung cancer and mortality18, 19; however, it is not known whether variation in AHRR (cg05575921) methylation extent is associated with risk of future smoking-related morbidity and mortality among individuals from the general population, and how useful this association might be for (pre-)clinical management of smokers. Here, AHRR is linked to lung cancer.