To smoke or not to smoke, is one question; how to quit once you have started is another, considering the plethora of stop-smoking products available over the counter or by prescription.
Smokers seldom quit on their first try, and fewer than one-third are ever able to give up cigarettes using available methods, such as patches, gums, lozenges, inhalers, prescription pills, and self-help books.
With such a low success rate, how would a smoker know which one would work the best? The answer to the puzzle might be in a smoker's genes.
Bupropion (marketed under the name Zyban), a popular drug prescribed to help patients quit smoking, has been shown to be more effective in people that possess certain "smoking genes," according to a study published late last year in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
"We believe (the results) are an exciting step forward in seeking information about how one responds well to which drugs -- the holy grail of personalized medicine," said Rachel Tyndale, author of the study and professor at the University of Toronto.
These results suggest that by using genetic testing at the outset, patients can bypass some of the early false starts of smoking cessation. If they have the right genetic variant, then they know that bupropion works well for them and can tailor their treatment plan accordingly.
Tyndale's team targeted the gene CYP2B6, which is associated with the body's ability to process nicotine. They recruited 326 moderate-to-heavy smokers who smoked half a pack a day or more. The participants were divided into two groups: one that was given the standard two-month course of bupropion and another that received a placebo. The researchers monitored their progress over a six-month period.
About half of the smokers in the buproprion group had a variant of the gene CYP2B6 that made them almost three times more likely to be able to quit smoking using bupropion when compared with the placebo group. After six months, those with the smoking gene were still much more likely to have avoided cigarettes.
Smoking cessation expert Douglas Jorenby, director of clinical services at the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention in Madison, agrees that "a major goal now ... is to connect (the patients) with the correct treatment."
Source: Xinhua/agencies
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article