In order to better understand the genetic determinants of smoking cessation, recent pharmacogenetic studies have investigated genes that may impact nicotine or bupropion activity and metabolism, and also components of the dopaminergic system related to addiction (Conti et al, 2008; Kortmann et al, 2010; Lee et al, 2007; Ray et al, 2010). Although replications are needed, variants identified in CYP2B6 and CHRNB2 may influence cessation rates for bupropion (Conti et al, 2008; Lee et al, 2007), and variants in the choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) gene may influence the success of NRT (Ray et al, 2010). In addition, several pharmacogenomics studies have investigated the effect of nicotine metabolism rates directly, through analysis of nicotine metabolites (Benowitz, 2009) with reproducible associations with smoking cessation (Ray et al, 2009).
