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Docs find different responses to stop-smoking treatments
Addiction to nicotine is hardly a one-size-fits-all problem.
Scientists have a growing portfolio of evidence that tobacco smoke impacts the DNA of different people in different ways, that individual smokers inhale differently and, conversely, that tools used to try and break addiction don't work the same in everyone.
One study reported in July that humans have at least 323 genes whose expression levels are affected by smoking behaviors.
Researchers from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio studied white blood cells taken from 1,240 people, including 297 current smokers, to identify changes in gene expression from exposure to cigarette smoke.
"The scale at which exposure to cigarette smoke appears to influence the expression levels of our genes is sobering," said Jac Charlesworth, lead author of the study published in the British journal BMC Medical Genomics.
Her team found significant changes in the smokers' expression of genes that influence immune response, cell death, cancer and metabolism of foreign particles compared to what was seen among nonsmokers.
While the Texas study looked at the impact of tobacco smoke deep inside cells, another study, reported in August by scientists at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found a new way to test the amount of chemicals that individual smokers are taking in each time they puff.
Unlike data gathered from machines smoking cigarettes, the chemical analysis developed by CDC chemist Clifford Watson and colleagues offers an individual profile of "mouth-level exposure to the harmful substances in tobacco smoke," the researcher said.
The researchers removed filters from cigarette butts and measured the levels of a signature chemical, called solanesol, that occurs naturally in tobacco and is viewed as a good indicator of other chemical compounds in tobacco smoke — there are more than 7,000.
...
Scientists with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Duke University have already been trying to match nicotine skin-patch doses to groups of genetic markers to predict a likelihood of quitting and what patch would work best with which variants.
The Duke-NIDA study reported in July involved 479 smokers who smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day and wanted to quit. Each was tested for genetic patterns that other research had shown appear to influence how well an individual might respond to specific cessation treatments and assigned a "quit-success score" based on those markers. A short questionnaire was also used to assess the level of nicotine dependence for each smoker.
The smokers were randomly assigned to wear two nicotine skin patches delivering a high (42 milligram) or low (21 milligram) dose for two weeks before their quit date and gradually weaned from the patches over 10 weeks.
When the patients were checked after six months, the researchers found that the genetic score helped predict successful abstinence. "People who had both high nicotine dependence and a low or unfavorable quit-success genetic score seemed to benefit markedly from the high-dose nicotine patch, while people who had less dependence on nicotine did better on the standard patch," said Jed Rose, director of Duke's Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research.
Rose noted that the study needs to be repeated and also include other cessation therapies, but predicted, "Within three to five years, it's conceivable we'll have a practical test that could take the guesswork out of choosing a smoking-cessation therapy."
THE COMPLETE ARTICLE
"the study needs to be repeated and also include other cessation therapies" ...
Let's hope snus is included so its high success rate can be further documented.
Docs find different responses to stop-smoking treatments
Addiction to nicotine is hardly a one-size-fits-all problem.
Scientists have a growing portfolio of evidence that tobacco smoke impacts the DNA of different people in different ways, that individual smokers inhale differently and, conversely, that tools used to try and break addiction don't work the same in everyone.
One study reported in July that humans have at least 323 genes whose expression levels are affected by smoking behaviors.
Researchers from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio studied white blood cells taken from 1,240 people, including 297 current smokers, to identify changes in gene expression from exposure to cigarette smoke.
"The scale at which exposure to cigarette smoke appears to influence the expression levels of our genes is sobering," said Jac Charlesworth, lead author of the study published in the British journal BMC Medical Genomics.
Her team found significant changes in the smokers' expression of genes that influence immune response, cell death, cancer and metabolism of foreign particles compared to what was seen among nonsmokers.
While the Texas study looked at the impact of tobacco smoke deep inside cells, another study, reported in August by scientists at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found a new way to test the amount of chemicals that individual smokers are taking in each time they puff.
Unlike data gathered from machines smoking cigarettes, the chemical analysis developed by CDC chemist Clifford Watson and colleagues offers an individual profile of "mouth-level exposure to the harmful substances in tobacco smoke," the researcher said.
The researchers removed filters from cigarette butts and measured the levels of a signature chemical, called solanesol, that occurs naturally in tobacco and is viewed as a good indicator of other chemical compounds in tobacco smoke — there are more than 7,000.
...
Scientists with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Duke University have already been trying to match nicotine skin-patch doses to groups of genetic markers to predict a likelihood of quitting and what patch would work best with which variants.
The Duke-NIDA study reported in July involved 479 smokers who smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day and wanted to quit. Each was tested for genetic patterns that other research had shown appear to influence how well an individual might respond to specific cessation treatments and assigned a "quit-success score" based on those markers. A short questionnaire was also used to assess the level of nicotine dependence for each smoker.
The smokers were randomly assigned to wear two nicotine skin patches delivering a high (42 milligram) or low (21 milligram) dose for two weeks before their quit date and gradually weaned from the patches over 10 weeks.
When the patients were checked after six months, the researchers found that the genetic score helped predict successful abstinence. "People who had both high nicotine dependence and a low or unfavorable quit-success genetic score seemed to benefit markedly from the high-dose nicotine patch, while people who had less dependence on nicotine did better on the standard patch," said Jed Rose, director of Duke's Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research.
Rose noted that the study needs to be repeated and also include other cessation therapies, but predicted, "Within three to five years, it's conceivable we'll have a practical test that could take the guesswork out of choosing a smoking-cessation therapy."
THE COMPLETE ARTICLE
"the study needs to be repeated and also include other cessation therapies" ...
Let's hope snus is included so its high success rate can be further documented.
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