By Fiona Macrae Science Correspondent
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A way to quit? The jab could take the pleasure out of smoking, helping users quit
An injection of genes that make antibodies against nicotine could help millions of smokers kick the habit, scientists believe.
Just one jab could provide life-long protection against nicotine cravings and it could eventually be used to vaccinate children to stop them ever getting hooked.
The ‘genetic vaccine’ has so far been tested only on mice, but research involving people could begin in as little as two years.
The jab contains genes ‘programmed’ to make antibodies that neutralise nicotine before it reaches the brain, where it would normally trigger the pleasurable feelings that underlie ad diction.
The theory is that if smokers no longer get such gratification from cigarettes, they will find it easier to quit.
The jab being developed at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York tricks the liver into continuously making antibodies, ensuring there are always some in the blood to fight nicotine.
When vaccinated mice were given nicotine, the antibodies cut the amount that made its way to the brain by 85 per cent, with no effect on their behaviour, blood pressure or heart rate, reports the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Most smokers who try to quit light up again within six months, but lead researcher Dr Ronald Crystal said: ‘This novel vaccine may offer a much-needed solution.’
The research is still at an early stage and the need for large-scale studies means the jab is at least five years from the market.
If it proved to be safe and effective, it could eventually be included in school vaccination programmes to stop youngsters from ever starting to smoke, said Dr Crystal.
Quitting while you're ahead: Just a single jab could remove all cravings, although the treatment is controversial
Darren Griffin, professor of genetics at Kent University, said the study had ‘great potential’, but warned that what worked in mice did not always work in man.
Prof Anthony Dayan, a retired toxicologist, said: ‘Nicotine addiction via smoking is harmful, but is it ethical to produce a major and enduring change in someone’s body to prevent it when other, less major, types of treatment are feasible?’
Around a fifth of Britons smoke, with most starting while still in their teens. Previous studies have shown that existing treatments, from counselling to pills, are of little benefit, with up to 80 per cent smoking again within six months.
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Hey! See that kid, who glows in the dark, with three heads and a reptilian tail? He's a lucky guy - he'll never start smoking. High fives all round. Yo!
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Oh, god. Use some common sense and impulse control.Getting addicted to something takes time, money and if someone's smart enough they don't waste both on utter rubbish.
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"We think we have a possible cure for cancer but need a million for further research". ---- "Sorry, there's a recession on". ------ "There's an outside chance that we could develope a vaccine that has an extremely small probability of stopping mice from smoking." --- "Is a million enough?"
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I don't want to try anything that's going to miss up my genes... Thanks but no thanks..
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Various chemicals in cigarettes are PROVEN carcinogens (That means they cause cancer). - Luke, Manchester, 28/6/2012 1:53 The very same can be said about the "fresh air" we breathe, the "safe" water we drink and even the "healthy" fruit and veg we're coerced to eat. Try Googling "radioactive banana"! "Alcoholic beverages" are "KNOWN human carcinogens" but ethanol itself is not even classified as a "possible", "probable" or even a rodent carcinogen. All "alcoholic beverages" are mainly water - maybe the dihydrogen monoxide hoa isn't a hoax after allx!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Does this make you sterile also ? I dont trust these nwo eugenists.
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Can't they develop a vaccine to turn the rabid anti-smoking fanatics into normal people?
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Don't even touch it. As I have long suspected it is the filter tips not the tobacco that is the killer. The filter tips contain tiny shards of fibreglass type material that gets down into the bottom of your lungs and tears holes in them and causes cancer. I don't remember lung cancer being common before the introduction of filter tips. Anyone who has a jab that messes with their DNA must want their head examining. - I will not take the chip, EUSSR, 27/6/2012 22:56-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------You must be joking? Why don't you start smoking without a filter tip then and we'll use you as an experiment...Various chemicals in cigarettes are PROVEN carcinogens (That means they cause cancer). And as to your laughable statistic (Can, "I don't remember" be counted as a statistic?) about lung cancer not being common before filters, it takes time to get cancer, it doesn't just pop up over night, it can be years....
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They cant get rid of the swine flu jabs bird flu jobs or the gardasil jabs. So here is the next money spinner but proberbly with an equally dangerous twist.
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So we also give the kids DNA-mutilating jabs to stop them taking drugs, drinking alcohol, eating junk food, slobbing out on their beds, watching too much TV..... Didn't we fight a war against fanatics who practised eugenics?
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