{"id":9452,"date":"2012-05-15T10:54:31","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T14:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=9452"},"modified":"2016-10-02T11:27:55","modified_gmt":"2016-10-02T15:27:55","slug":"nih-grant-awarded-for-smoking-relapse-prevention-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=9452","title":{"rendered":"NIH Grant Awarded for Smoking Relapse Prevention Drug"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Paul<\/a>
Paul Kenny (Scripps Research Institute)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded Scripps Research Institute<\/a> in Jupiter, Florida a grant to develop drugs that help prevent relapse in smokers who are kicking the habit. The five-year $8.4 million grant will support a team led by Scripps researcher Paul Kenny (pictured right).<\/p>\n

Scripps cites World Health Organization statistics that smoking kills some 5 million people worldwide and by 2020 will become the world’s largest single health problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> says nicotine dependence is the most common form of chemical dependence in the U.S., with many smokers needing multiple attempts to quit. CDC says in 2010, a little more than half (52%) of adult smokers stopped smoking for at least one day.<\/p>\n

Kenny’s research focuses on peptides in nerve tissue that, when blocked, decreases the desire for nicotine, at least in tests on animals in the lab. The neuropeptide, known as hypocretin-1, starts a signaling cascade that keeps human smokers addicted. In an earlier lab study, Kenny showed that blocking hypocretin-1 receptors decreased nicotine use in animals, and abolished the stimulatory effects of nicotine on reward nerve centers in the brain.<\/p>\n

Kenny’s earlier research also highlighted the role played by the hypocretin-1 receptors in the insula, a small part of the brain’s frontal lobe that appears related to cravings. A study reported in 2007<\/a> that people who suffered damage to the insula were quickly able to give up cigarettes.<\/p>\n

The Scripps lab<\/a> headed by Kenny conducts research on the molecular neurobiology of drug addiction and obesity, to develop new therapies for these disorders. Their studies involve behavioral genetics, viral-mediated gene transfer, protein, and RNA biology, combined with complex behavioral procedures to better understand the mechanics of addiction and obesity.<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere on Science & Enterprise . . .<\/p>\n