Canada Pharmacy Coupon Strengthens Anti-Smoking Campaign

Smokers' genes may help predict whether they'll respond to drug treatments for nicotine addiction, a new study indicates. Worse cases may lead patients to take generic Advair available in various pharmacies. 

"People with the high-risk genetic markers smoked an average of two years longer than those without these high-risk genes, and they were less likely to quit smoking without medication," study first author Dr. Li-Shiun Chen, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a university news release. 

"The same gene variants can predict a person's response to smoking-cessation medication, and those with the high-risk genes are more likely to respond to the medication," Chen said. 

In the clinical treatment study, smokers with the high-risk variants were three times more likely than those without the variants to respond to treatments such as nicotine gum, nicotine patches, the antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin is one brand) and other drugs used to help people stop smoking. 

"Smokers whose genetic makeup puts them at the greatest risk for heavy smoking, nicotine addiction and problems kicking the habit also appear to be the same people who respond most robustly to pharmacologic therapy for smoking cessation," senior investigator Dr. Laura Jean Bierut, a professor of psychiatry, said in the news release. 

The gene variants in this study aren't the only ones involved in whether a person smokes, becomes addicted or has difficulty quitting, but they are an important part of the overall nicotine-addiction puzzle, the researchers said. 

"These variants make a very modest contribution to the development of nicotine addiction, but they have a much greater effect on the response to treatment," Bierut said. "That's a huge finding." Thus, to buy Advair is cut to minimum. 

Smoking, particularly of cigarettes, is by far the main contributor to lung cancer. Cigarette smoke contains over 60 known carcinogens, including radioisotopes from the radon decay sequence, nitrosamine, and benzopyrene. Additionally, nicotine appears to depress the immune response to malignant growths in exposed tissue. Across the developed world, 91% of lung cancer deaths in men during the year 2000 were attributed to smoking (71% for women). In the United States, smoking is estimated to account for 87% of lung cancer cases (90% in men and 85% in women). Among male smokers, the lifetime risk of developing lung cancer is 17.2%; among female smokers, the risk is 11.6%. This risk is significantly lower in nonsmokers: 1.3% in men and 1.4% in women. 

Women who smoke (former smokers and current smokers) and take hormone therapy are at a much higher risk of dying of lung cancer. In a study by Chlebowski et al. published in 2009, the women taking hormones were about 60% more likely to die of lung cancer than the women taking a placebo. Not surprisingly, the risk was highest for current smokers, followed by past smokers, and lowest for those who have never smoked. Among the women who smoked (former or current smokers), 3.4% of those taking hormone therapy died of lung cancer compared to 2.3% for women taking the placebo.