Health & Medicine - Posted by Ellen de Graffenreid-UNC on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 10:07 - 1 Comment 
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Smoking addiction may be in the genes
A team of scientists used data from genome-wide association studies to identify genetic variations associated with key smoking behaviors. They found three genetic regions were associated with the number of cigarettes smoked per day, one region was associated with smoking initiation, and one variant was associated with smoking cessation. “We hope that this work will allow researchers from multiple disciplines to develop a better understanding of the genetics of addiction,” says Helena Furberg. (Credit: iStockphoto)
UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US)—Researchers have associated genetic variants with certain smoking behaviors. The study suggests the variants may affect whether a person will start to smoke, how much they’ll smoke, and if they are able to quit.
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In a paper published in the journal Nature Genetics, the team reported that three genetic regions were associated with the number of cigarettes smoked per day, one region was associated with smoking initiation, and one variant was associated with smoking cessation.
The variants on chromosome 15 that were associated with heavy smoking lie within a region that contains nicotinic receptor genes, which other scientists have previously associated with nicotine dependence and lung cancer.
“We hope that this work will allow researchers from multiple disciplines to develop a better understanding of the genetics of addiction and evaluate how drug-gene interactions could be used to create and tailor therapies to improve the rates of smoking cessation,” says Helena Furberg, a genetics faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Furberg, and Patrick Sullivan, also a genetics faculty members UNC Chapel-Hill, led the Tobacco and Genetics Consortium, considered to be the largest genetic study of smoking, collaborating with scientists from 16 large genetic studies worldwide to compare the DNA marker profiles between smokers and non-smokers.
“More work needs to be done before these findings can be used to treat smokers who wish to quit. At this time, testing for these variants will not tell you anything meaningful about your risk of smoking or nicotine dependence.
“Of course, all smokers should be encouraged to quit regardless of their genetic make-up,” she adds.
Genome-wide association studies search for genetic variants involved in a disease that may ultimately help diagnose, and treat—or even prevent—the disease.
Because smoking behavior is associated with many health conditions, such as heart disease and cancer, the researchers were able to assemble more data to test the links between genetic variants and smoking than any one study could provide alone.
In addition to funding from a UNC Lineberger University Cancer Research Fund Innovation Award, the research was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute and multiple agencies that funded participating studies.
UNC-Chapel Hill news: http://uncnews.unc.edu/
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1 Comment
pat a thomas
I never believed nicotene was adictive and just chalked it up to adictive personalities because after smoking cigarettes for 40 years I could still go hours or days without one, or even wanting one. I was a heavy smoker most of that time – a pack a day. If there are smoking genes, that would explain a lot. I’m not a smoker now. How did I quit? I forgot to smoke. About a month after a trip to China for a couple of weeks, I came across a familiar-looking small leather case, but couldn’t remember what it was for. Opening it, I found my cigarettes. My immediate reaction was to take one out, but when I was going to light it, the thought came to me that I had gone that long without one, why not just don’t start up again. I couldn’t remember my last cigarette – it was somewhere in China, though. I knew, and still know, people having a nightmare trying to quit smoking, and was always a bit puzzled by it. I didn’t try to quit because I truly enjoyed it. I smoked when I was relaxed and could savor it.. I didn’t quit, I just forgot. Now I have a possible explanation for my experience with smoking and quiting – genes. And, I understand better why so many people have such trouble with craving cigarettes and quiting them.