To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did. I ought to know because I’ve done it a thousand times." This popular quote, attributed to Mark Twain, mockingly captures the difficulties of long-term abstinence for nicotine-dependent individuals.
Clinicians have many more tools to treat nicotine dependence than were available in Twain’s time. But even though such approaches as nicotine replacement, bupropion, and behavioral therapies have helped many individuals quit, relapse is common.
Some scientists believe that vaccines targeting nicotine may help some individuals kick the nicotine habit. Early clinical trials and basic research on this strategy have yielded some promising results, although many questions remain.
BEATING THE RUSH
Like a conventional vaccine that targets a pathogen, a nicotine vaccine is designed to stimulate the production of antibodies—in this case, nicotine antibodies. The basic premise is that such antibodies might block some of nicotine’s reinforcing effects by sequestering the chemical . . . [Full Text of this Article]
