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Want To Quit?

CENTURY
Yale University
School of Medicine
SAC-203
Connecticut
Mental Health Center
34 Park Street
New Haven, CT 06519

Phone:
203-974-7591

Fax:
203-974-7606

E-mail:
infocentury@yale.edu

 

Recent News

 

Can a nicotine vaccine help people quit smoking? - Clinical trial at Yale University seeks to investigate this question.

New Haven, Conn. – Yale researchers are studying an innovative approach to smoking cessation by testing an investigational nicotine vaccine vs. a placebo. Prior studies with the vaccine, not yet approved by the FDA, suggest that it may be effective in helping people quit smoking.

“Despite the availability of effective smoking cessation therapies, quitting smoking continues to be difficult for many individuals,” says Stephanie O’Malley, Ph.D., director of the Center for Nicotine and Tobacco Use Research at Yale (CENTURY) and the lead investigator for the Yale site. “The nicotine vaccine may make it easier to quit by gradually making smoking less rewarding.”

The investigational nicotine vaccine, NicVAX, is manufactured by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, the sponsor of the study.  Nicotine is a small molecule that upon inhalation into the lungs quickly passes into the bloodstream and enters the brain. Once in the brain, the nicotine binds to specific nicotine receptors resulting in the release of stimulants, such as dopamine, a chemical linked to pleasure and to addiction.   NicVAX causes a person’s body to make antibodies to nicotine.  These antibodies bind to nicotine to form molecules that are too large to enter the brain so the pleasurable, highly-addictive effects of nicotine are diminished, thereby making it easier to quit smoking. Antibody levels increase with repeated injections and so participants are encouraged to wait to quit smoking until they have received several injections.

Yale University is one of 25 sites participating in the study. The investigators are seeking healthy smokers, age 18 to 65, who are interested in quitting smoking. The study will provide participants smoking cessation counseling and either the nicotine vaccine or placebo administered in 6 injections over six months. During the final six months of the study, participants attend appointments to receive smoking cessation support and follow-up. To be eligible for the study, a person must smoke at least 10 cigarettes per day and be available to visit the Yale clinic 20 times over the course of 1 year. Interested individuals can call 203-974-7588 to learn more about the study.

'Casual' Smokers have a Greater Risk of Hazardous Drinking and Alcohol-Use Disorders

New findings by Yale researchers indicate that nondaily or "casual" smoking among young adults confers a greater risk of hazardous drinking and alcohol-use disorders. Read the 23-Sep-2008 public release on EurekaAlert!

New Pamphlet on Women and Quitting is Available

Is it more difficult for women to quit smoking than it is for for men? To obtain an informational pamphlet on gender differences in quitting smoking, visit Women's Health Research at Yale (www.yalewhr.org) and click on WHRY Publications

Yale Researchers Examine Gender Differences in Brain Nicotinic Receptors

A new study by Yale researchers in the October 2007 issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine examined sex differences and the effect of the menstrual cycle in the availability of beta2-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, which is the receptor that binds nicotine in the brain. The study was conducted in living humans with single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT, brain imaging. While the study ultimately determined that there are no sex differences or effects of the menstrual cycle on the availability of nicotinic receptors, they did find a sex difference in how the radiotracer is metabolized and in how much of it binds to plasma proteins in the blood. This has important implications for neuroreceptor imaging studies, because if differences in radiotracer metabolism and protein binding between men and women are not corrected, it could lead to an artificial finding of a sex difference in brain receptors. For more information, please see the article.

New Research & Policy Brief available

Research findings on two related topics - additional benefits to quitting, and risk factors for failing to quit - can serve as the basis for developing more effective public and work-place policies to motivate and help smokers to quit.  To find out more, please see our December 2006 Research & Policy Brief.

Nicotine exposure can increase motivation to respond for food

A new study by Yale researchers has shown that prior nicotine exposure in mice can increase their motivation to work for food, weeks after their last exposure to nicotine. The study, to be published in an upcoming issue of Psychopharmacology, sheds new light on the role played by certain nicotinic acetylcholine receptors when it comes to the reinforcing aspects of nicotine. It also provides insight into one of the most vexing issues relating to smoking cessation, one that discourages many people from attempting to quit smoking, the prospect of weight gain. The findings run counter to the popular belief that nicotine exposure curbs appetite. To find out more, please read.

Yale TTURC research featured in Glamour magazine

Dr. Sherry McKee's work on women and smoking is featured in the September issue of Glamour magazine. Here is an excerpt: "Women who are trying to quit are four times as likely as men to light up again, says a new study. Why? Women often reach for a cigarette at the first sign of withdrawal symptoms, like weight gain -- side effects men are more likely to tough out. Most women believe they'll pack on 20 pounds, but the average is only five, says study author Sherry McKee, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut." The full article can be found on Page 180 of the September issue.

Tobacco industry strategy provides opportunity

An advertising approach that works for one generation of women doesn't always work for the next generation. So tobacco companies have to keep adjusting their advertising campaigns to attract new smokers. The tobacco industry’s need to attract new generations of smokers provides an opportunity for anti-smoking campaigns, says a new research paper from Yale and UCSF researchers. For more information, please see our story.

Smokers who quit reduce absences from work, but only over the long run

Smokers who quit reduce their absences from work over time, but in the short run experience an increase in absences, according to a new research paper from Yale. Researchers said the short-term increase in absences are consistent with the reality that quitting smoking is an arduous process and that withdrawal can be difficult to manage. For more information, please see our report.

Perception of risk can affect desire, ability to quit

There are many risks associated with smoking. But some smokers, particularly women, believe there are risks associated with quitting, too. Their perception of those risks sometimes reduces the smoker's motivation to quit. They also can make a quit attempt less likely to succeed, according to a new Yale study. For more information, please see our story.

TTURC team featured in JAMA

The research of Dr. Tony George and his colleagues was featured in an article in the Feb. 1, 2006 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The Perspective highlighted work relating to how nicotine may sometimes improve cognitive deficits associated with mental illnesses like schizophrenia. The article cited studies done by Dr. George’s team led by Dr. Kristi Sacco and  published in The Journal of Psychopharmacology and The Archives of General Psychiatry, in 2005. For more, please read our story.

Other News

• Dr. Stephanie O'Malley was interviewed by WABC-TV recently about the results of her study on naltrexone for smoking cessation published in 2005 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  View or read the story on their website.

• An advertising approach that works for one generation of women doesn't always work for the next generation, tobacco company experts have found. The tobacco industry’s need to attract new generations of smokers provides an opportunity for anti-smoking campaigns, says a new research paper from Yale and UCSF researchers. For more information, please read our story.

• Derek Yach, the head of Yale's Global Health Division, says the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at Yale is ideally positioned to make a significant contribution to the global fight against tobacco, because of the depth and breadth of its work. To read more about his work and his planned address to the group on May 31, 2005, World Tobacco Day, please see our story.

• Smokers who quit reduce their absences from work over time, but in the short run experience an increase in absences, according to a new research paper from Yale. For more information, please see our release. (April 2005)

• There are many risks associated with smoking. But some smokers, particularly women, believe there are risks associated with quitting, too. Their perception of those risks sometimes reduces the smoker's motivation to quit. They also can make a quit attempt less likely to succeed, according to a new Yale study. For more information, please see our story.

• Yale researchers are conducting a study of a medication that could help reduce the withdrawal symptoms for smokers who are trying to quit. Andrea Weinberger, project director for the new trial, says dopamine levels in the brain might be part of the reason why withdrawal symptoms occur. The researchers will test the effectiveness of a monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) inhibitor called Selegiline, which allows smokers who are trying to quit to maintain higher levels of dopamine. "For some smokers, it might help them get through the withdrawal period," Weinberger said. To find out more about this study, please call 203-974-7867 or see the full press release. To find out about upcoming CENTURY/TTURC studies, please call Susan at 203-974-7588.

• The Center for Nicotine and Tobacco Use Research at Yale and Dr. Karen S. Hudmon's tobacco cessation training program were highlighted in a recent meeting held by Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Thompson called the November 10 meeting to find out more about the best ways to fight tobacco dependence. For more information, please see our story.

• Dr. Marina Picciotto's work on nicotine receptors and depression was featured in an article in the Yale Bulletin & Calendar.

• Smokers would be willing to pay for more effective smoking cessation treatments, particularly if they help smokers avoid weight gain that is often associated with quit attempts, according to a newly published survey from Yale researchers. For more information, please see the full news release.

• Schizophrenics who have severe neuropsychological problems related to their disorder have a harder time quitting smoking than regular smokers, according to another new study by Yale researchers. For more information, please see the full news release.

• U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona's report on smoking and health says that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body and that it puts people at risk for leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach. During a press conference on the report, the Surgeon General outlined what the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is doing about smoking, including the national quitline, medicare programs, and the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers (TTURCs). For more information about the Surgeon General's report, you can go to their website . You can also read our press release, Yale Experts Urge Expanded State Effort at Smoking Cessation In Light of New Surgeon General's Report.

• During a recent meeting at Yale, about 30 people, including state tobacco control and cancer control leaders, and Yale researchers, talked about how best to further reduce smoking in Connecticut. For more information about that initiative, please see http://www.quitwithyale.org/policy/action/

• CENTURY/TTURC researchers Dr. Sherry McKee and Dr. Ned Cooney were featured in an article in The Hartford Courant entitled "Working Together to Kill You; State Ban on Smoking in Bars Takes Aim at Deadly Combination of Tobacco and Alcohol." To read the article, you can go to www.ctnow.com , search on smoking and click on the link. Or you can read the reprint on our web site. Dr. Michael Fiore, of the University of Wisconsin TTURC, also was featured in the article.

To find out more about our funders, other tobacco organizations, and local, state and national tobacco news, you can check out our links.

To find the latest information about our group, you can read our press releases.

To find out about upcoming events, you can view our calendar.