Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recently finished a survey of the human genome, searching for new genes related to nicotine addiction and raising hope that the research could answer questions about why people become addicted to nicotine.

Researchers looking for genes that could be related to nicotine dependence combined a review of the entire genome with a more focused study on genes already suspected of playing a role in addiction. "The hope is that continued identification of these genes that are associated with risk of addiction will not only help us predict who is more likely to become addicted but will also help identify who will respond best to specific cessation therapies," said study leader Laura Jean Bierut of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo.

"This genome-wide association scan is an important step in a large-scale genetic examination of nicotine addiction," added Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health. "As more genomic variations are discovered that are associated with substance abuse, including smoking, we will be better able to understand how to prevent and treat human addictive disorders."

The research appears online in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.