"Smoker's genes" help to quit smoking
The effectiveness of anti-smoking drugs is determined by genes
The same genetic variants that turn a person into an avid smoker increase the likelihood that a person will respond well to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) drugs. This conclusion was reached by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA. The results of their study are published in the American Journal of Psychiatry: Chen et al., Interplay of Genetic Risk Factors (CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4) and Cessationtreatments in Smoking Cessation Success.
"It is known that changes in the three linked genes CHRNA5, CHRNA3 and CHRNB4 (nicotine receptors alpha-5, alpha-3 and beta-4) on the site of the 15th chromosome encoding other protein subunits of nicotine receptors increase the risk of turning a person into a heavy smoker, increasing his craving for nicotine, and prevent he has to give up the bad habit on his own," says the senior author of the study, professor of psychiatry Laura Jean Bierut (Laura Jean Bierut). – But, apparently, these same changes make a person extremely susceptible to nicotine replacement therapy. Based on the data we have obtained, doctors will soon learn how to determine which of the patients who want to quit smoking will respond well to treatment with such drugs, and who will need to choose another method."
In the course of the study, scientists analyzed data on more than 6 thousand smokers participating in clinical trials of anti-smoking drugs. "We divided the study participants into a group of heavy smokers who smoke for a long time, are highly dependent and cannot quit smoking on their own, and into a group of those who do not consider themselves to be such and believe that quitting smoking will not be a problem for them," explains Dr. Birut. "Then we observed the reaction of participants in both groups to taking nicotine replacement therapy and the antidepressant buproprione."
It turned out that the more an avid smoker a person is, the faster and easier he gets rid of a bad habit with the help of NRT drugs – patches, chewing gums, as well as with the help of buproprion. On average, the percentage of quit smokers among such smokers is 3 times higher than the success of other people. Those smokers who cannot call themselves avid or have a strong addiction, most likely, will need to choose another method to combat the bad habit.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru01.06.2012