Loading...
Roughly 500,000 Americans die from smoking-related deaths annually, and approved “stop smoking” methods work at most 30% of the time. Alternative approaches are needed. Work in animals has suggested that vaccinations against nicotine might help (JW Psychiatry Jul 23 2012). To test a nicotine conjugate vaccine that is injected peripherally and induces antinicotine antibodies, investigators enrolled 11 volunteer chronic smokers who were not trying to quit.
The subjects received four injections of vaccine during 20 weeks. At baseline and at 20 weeks, they underwent two scans by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of nicotine acetylcholine receptor (β2*-nAChR) occupancy in cortical and subcortical regions. For the scans, subjects …