Genetic Clusters May Hold Key to Success in Specific Smoking Cessation Program

Want to snuff off a deadly habit of cigarette smoking? There are a number of medications to help you quit! A whole range of nicotine replacement aids in the form of sprays, gums, pills and patches are nowadays available on the smoking cessation market. In addition, there are such highly effective drugs as Chantix and Zyban, or at least they are aggressively marketed as medications that would make your smoking cessation program pain-free and successful. Or would they?

In fact, modern pharmaceutical drugs designed to help people stop smoking can work for some, but remain totally ineffective for others. So far, the only sure method to find out which one will help a particular smoker has been to try and see – the strategy of trial and error. However, a new study conducted by a team of scientists led by Jed Rose of the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research, which has been recently published at the Archives of General Psychiatry, may shed light on which drug can be effective in a smoking cessation program of a particular individual.

The researchers looked for common clusters of genes shared by those who have successfully quit smoking after using a certain drug. A group of 550 volunteers, who were eager to free themselves from a destructive habit of smoking, took part in the trial. While entering a smoking cessation program, the participants were divided into three groups – the first was prescribed a course of nicotine replacement therapy, the second used the drug Zyban, and the third received placebo.

In several weeks, some of the subjects successfully quit smoking tobacco. The results showed that those who stopped smoking with the help of nicotine replacement therapy shared 41 particular genes, while those who kicked the habit using Zyban shared a different group of 28 genes.

The researchers concluded that, by performing a simple genetic test to identify those groups of genes, doctors will be equipped with a reliable method to foresee which medication will work best for every particular smoker. Jed Rose commented that this new finding contributes to the development of a personalized approach in medical treatments – the medical attitude which is rapidly gaining popularity.

The scientists still do not know if the method of genetic identification is applicable in predicting the best smoking cessation medication in the general population, as opposed to a relatively small group of volunteers who felt enthusiastic about stopping smoking. It also has to be examined if a short-term success in smoking cessation with the help of a certain drug will also lead to a long-term abstinence from cigarettes. In about half of all successful cases of smoking cessation, ex-smokers regain their harmful habit within the first year after quitting.

The same group of researchers is also planning to conduct another trial to investigate the effectiveness of the new, controversial smoking cessation drug Chantix in individuals with similar clusters of genes.

Jimmy Edwards