Quit tobacco. Perhaps one of the most repeated resolutions for the new year on the entire planet. And probably one of the most unfulfilled. But don’t beat yourself up too much. Your repeated failures to quit this harmful habit may have a lot to do with your genetic equipment. And it’s not your fault that your DNA is the way it is.
A new study has shown that people with a particular version of a gene involved in the brain’s reward system have a better chance of success in their attempt to quit tobacco, a drug that, according to the WHO, has a billion users in the world and that kills almost 6 million people every year, 600,000 of them passive smokers.
The authors of the work, from the Faculty of Medicine of Zhejiang University (China), have only been able to confirm this phenomenon in Caucasian individuals. Smokers of Eastern ancestry had an equal chance of quitting or not quitting regardless of whether they possessed that genetic variant, and scientists haven’t gathered enough data on black or Latino people.
The gene in question is called ANKK1, and it is located next to the DRD2 gene, responsible for helping the brain to recognize dopamine, the neurotransmitter that reinforces pleasant behaviors such as eating or having sex. Addictive drugs like nicotine also raise dopamine levels. A fragment of the ANKK1 gene – which is inherited from both parents – seems to influence DRD2 and researchers have found that it makes quitting tobacco easier, although they have not yet unraveled the keys to the process.
The study has been carried out by crossing the data of 23 investigations – carried out between 1994 and 2014 – that analyzed the DNA of 11,151 present and past smokers. According to Chinese scientists, refining their findings could lead to the development of smoking cessation drugs tailored to the genetic profile of patients.
