A group of researchers from Zhejiang University and University of Virginia was able to detect a specific gene that affects smokers' ability to quit smoking. The gene, which is known for its dopamine-regulating function, may be the key reason why smokers have varying ease and difficulties in quitting. After all, it's in the genes.
In the past, researches have delved into the association between smoking cessation and DRD2/ANKK1 gene Taq1A polymorphism, which regulates the brain's reward system or dopamine excretion. The link between the gene and smoking is said to be due to ANKK1's effects on nicotine addiction. Despite published findings, the relationship between the two remains controversial.
For the new study, the researchers wanted to identify an established relationship between the said gene and smoking cessation.
The study was conducted by searching through all studies that investigated on smoking and DRD2/ANKK1 Taq1A polymorphism from the data bank of PubMed. The authors included studies from the first date available up until May 17, 2015.
After sifting through the papers and employing criteria-based selection, a total of 23 eligible studies surfaced. The final pool for investigation specifically consists of 13 longitudinal treatment studies, nine cross-sectional surveys and one longitudinal research.
The researchers compared the current smokers and former smokers to determine the type of smoking cessation for all eligible papers.
The findings of the study showed that there is a statistically meaningful relationship between the DRD2 Taq1A polymorphism and smoking cessation in a large population of white people. Smokers who find it easy to quit was also associated with a particular allele.
"Our results provide supportive evidence for further investigation of personalized medicine for smoking cessation according to individual genotypes," the authors wrote.
The growth of research on this topic is still in its premature stage thus further investigations that focus on genetic associations, pharmacogenetic and molecular functional aspects should be performed.
The study was published in the journal Translational Psychiatry on Tuesday, Dec. 1.
Photo: Denise Sebastian | Flickr
