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J. H. is a neck breather and lives in fear of drowning in the shower. Due to throat cancer, she has lost her larynx (voice box) and has to breathe through a hole in her throat called a stoma. She started smoking when she was 12-14 years old and had her surgery about 30 years ago. Her physical problems include greatly reduced ability to smell, the stoma, and the need to speak with an artificial larynx. She looked in a mirror after her surgery and thought, "I look like the bride of Frankenstein." She said, "I felt so ugly."
Source: www.art.unt.edu
Photo © Scott Camazine
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Cigarette smoking is the most preventable cause of cancer in the U.S. Smoking cigarettes has been linked to cancer of the mouth, neck, stomach, and lung, among others. Smoking marijuana also exposes the lungs to carcinogens and can cause precancerous changes to the lungs similar to cigarette smoke.
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| Selected Research Findings on the Mental Health Effects of Drug Abuse |
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NIDA Funded Researchers Identify Gene Variant Linking Nicotine Addiction and Lung Cancer
Scientists have identified a genetic variant that not only makes smokers more susceptible to nicotine addiction but also increases their risk of developing two smoking-related diseases, lung cancer and peripheral arterial disease. The variant is closely linked to two of the known subunits of nicotine receptors (alpha3 and alpha5), the sites on the surface of many cells in the brain, lungs, and body that can be bound by nicotine. When nicotine attaches to these receptors in the brain, there are changes in cell activity that result in its addictive effects. Activation of nicotinic receptors in the lung may cause cell proliferation. The study, published in the April 3, 2008 issue of the journal Nature1, highlights the advances that are being made in genetics research using the method of genome wide association, which can now identify many gene variants that increase the risk of complex bio-behavioral disorders. Carriers of this genetic variant are more likely than non-carriers to be heavy smokers, dependent on nicotine, and less likely to quit smoking. While the variant does not increase the likelihood that a person will start smoking, it increases the likelihood of addiction for those who do smoke. The study funded by NIDA and the European Union was carried out by deCODE Genetics, a biopharmaceutical company based in Reykjavik, Iceland. The same variant was identified as one that increased risk for lung cancer in two articles appearing in the April 3rd, 2008, issues of Nature2 and Nature Genetics3, and partially funded by two other NIH institutes - the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute. Previous work by scientists at the Washington University and Perlegen Biosciences led by Dr. Laura Bierut4,5, the University of Pennsylvania led by Dr. Wade Berrettini6, University of Colorado, Boulder by Dr. Isabel Schlaepfer7 all funded by NIDA also have shown independently that the alpha-5/alpha-3 nicotinic receptor subunit alleles increase the risk for heavy smoking. Future research will determine whether the association of the alpha3/alpha5 gene variant with lung cancer is due entirely to its effect on the increased quantity of cigarettes smoked or is a direct effect of nicotine on lung tissue to promote tumor growth in the lungs. 1. Thorgeirsson, T.E., Geller, F., Sulem, P., Rafnar, T., Wiste, A., et al. Variant Associated with Nicotine Dependence, Lung Cancer and Peripheral Arterial Disease. Nature, 452(7187), pp. 638-642, 2008. 2. Amos, C.I., Wu, X., Broderick, P., et al. Genome-Wide Association Scan of Tag SNPs Identifies a Susceptibility Locus for Lung Cancer at 15q25.1. Nature Genetics, Apr 2, 2008 , epub ahead of print. 3. Hung, R.J., McKay, J.D., Gaborieau, V., Boffetta, P., Hashibe, M., Zaridze, D., et al.. A Susceptibility Locus for Lung Cancer Maps to Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunit Genes on 15q25. Nature, 452(7187), pp. 633-637, 2008. 4. Bierut, L.J., Madden, P.A.F., Breslau, N., Johnson, E.O., Hatsukami, D., Pomerleau, O.F., Swan, G.E., Rutter, J., Bertelsen, S., Fox, L., Fugman, D., Goate, A.M., Hinrichs, A.L., Konvicka, K., Martin, N.G., Montgomery, G.W., Saccone, N.L., Saccone, S.F., Wang, J.C., Chase, G.A., Rice, J.P. and Ballinger, D. Novel Genes Identified in a High-Density Genome Wide Association Study for Nicotine Dependence. Human Molecular Genetics, 16(1), pp. 24-35, 2007. 5. Saccone, S.F., Hinrichs, A.L., Saccone, N.L., Chase, G.A., Konvicka, K., Madden, P.A.F., Breslau, N., Johnson, E.O., Hatsukami, D., Pomerleau, O., Swan, G.E., et. al. Cholinergic Nicotinic Receptor Genes Implicated in a Nicotine Dependence Association Study Targeting 348 Candidate Genes with 3713 SNPs. Human Molecular Genetics, 16(1), pp. 36-49, 2007. 6. Berrettini, W., Yuan, X., Tozzi, F., Song, K., Francks, C., Chilcoat, H., Waterworth, D., Muglia, P. and Mooser, V. _-5/_-3 Nicotinic Receptor Subunit Alleles Increase Risk for Heavy Smoking. Molecular Psychiatry, 13, pp. 368-373, 2008. 7. Schlaepfer, I.R., Hoft, N.R., Collins, A.C., Corley, R.P., Hewitt, J.K., Hopfer, C.J., Lessem, J.M., McQueen, M.B., Rhee, S.H. and Ehringer, M.A. The CHRNA5/A3/B4 Gene Cluster Variability as an Important Determinant of Early Alcohol and Tobacco Initiation in Young Adults. Biological Psychiatry, epub ahead of print.
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