New vacine could fight nicotine addiction
Cigarette smokers who are having trouble quitting
because of nicotine's addictive power may some day be
able to receive a novel antibody-producing vaccine to help
them kick the habit.
The average cigarette contains about 4 000 different
chemicals that — when burned and inhaled — cause the
serious health problems associated with smoking. But
it is the nicotine in cigarettes that, like other addictive
substances, stimulates rewards centers in the brain and
hooks smokers to the pleasurable but dangerous routine.
Ronald Crystal, who chairs the department of genetic
medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York,
where researchers are developing a nicotine vaccine,
said the idea is to stimulate the smoker's immune system
to produce antibodies or immune proteins to destroy the
nicotine molecule before it reaches the brain.
BERMAN, J. Disponível em: www.voanews.com. Acesso em: 2 jul. 2012
Muitas pessoas tentam parar de fumar, mas fracassam e
sucumbem ao vício. Na tentativa de ajudar os fumantes,
pesquisadores da Weill-Cornell Medical College estão
desenvolvendo uma vacina que
