Tobacco Treatment Research
In the United States, approximately 60 million people smoke. About 1.5 million quit smoking last year, but another 3 million people started smoking for the first time, most of them teenagers. Cigarette smoking remains the single, most preventable cause of cancer deaths in the United States according to the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute. At least one-third of all cancer deaths annually are attributed to cigarette smoking, which means that 186,000 cancer deaths last year could have been prevented if smoking weren’t so widespread.
There are many smoking-cessation methods available for smokers who want to quit. They include nicotine replacement products such as gum, inhalers, nasal spray, the patch and Zyban, which is a medication designed to curb a smoker’s cravings for nicotine. If research being conducted at the MMRF proves effective, another approach — immunization — may be available. MMRF researchers are testing immunization as a way of preventing nicotine from reaching the brain which could mean that the smoker would not receive the pleasurable effects of smoking.
Current Research
MMRF researchers have developed, and are testing, a nicotine vaccine that may be an effective method for preventing and treating tobacco addiction. Nicotine is the main addictive component of tobacco. The purpose of the vaccine is to prevent nicotine from reaching the brain so as to reduce its effects and help keep people from becoming addicted.
When injected in laboratory animals, the vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce proteins called antibodies that bind tightly to nicotine. The antibody-bound nicotine is too large to enter the brain, thereby preventing nicotine from producing its effects. The antibody-bound nicotine is eventually broken down to other harmless molecules.
Although the research is preliminary, the vaccine studies performed on rats are very promising. An article in the December 17, 1999, issue of Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior reported that the vaccine reduced the amount of nicotine entering the animals’ brains by almost two-thirds. The vaccine also blocked nicotine’s effect in raising blood pressure and it prevented the hyperactive behavior that researchers see when they inject animals with nicotine.
Human trials of the vaccine have begun in partnership with the University of Minnesota.
