A candidate gene approach identifies the CHRNA5-A3-B4 region as a risk factor for age-dependent nicotine addiction.

ABSTRACT: People who begin daily smoking at an early age are at greater risk of long-term nicotine addiction. We tested the hypothesis that associations between nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) genetic variants and nicotine dependence assessed in adulthood will be stronger among smokers who began daily nicotine exposure during adolescence. We compared nicotine addiction-measured by the Fagerstrom Test of Nicotine Dependence-in three cohorts of long-term smokers recruited in Utah, Wisconsin, and by the NHLBI Lung Health Study, using a candidate-gene approach with the neuronal nAChR subunit genes. This SNP panel included common coding variants and haplotypes detected in eight alpha and three beta nAChR subunit genes found in European American populations. In the 2,827 long-term smokers examine

SUBMITTER: Weiss RB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2442220 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature