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Journal article

Rare coding variants in CHRNB2 reduce the likelihood of smoking

Abstract:
Human genetic studies of smoking behavior have been thus far largely limited to common variants. Studying rare coding variants has the potential to identify drug targets. We performed an exome-wide association study of smoking phenotypes in up to 749,459 individuals and discovered a protective association in CHRNB2, encoding the β2 subunit of the α4β2 nicotine acetylcholine receptor. Rare predicted loss-of-function and likely deleterious missense variants in CHRNB2 in aggregate were associated with a 35% decreased odds for smoking heavily (odds ratio (OR) = 0.65, confidence interval (CI) = 0.56–0.76, P = 1.9 × 10−8). An independent common variant association in the protective direction (rs2072659; OR = 0.96; CI = 0.94–0.98; P = 5.3 × 10−6) was also evident, suggesting an allelic series. Our findings in humans align with decades-old experimental observations in mice that β2 loss abolishes nicotine-mediated neuronal responses and attenuates nicotine self-administration. Our genetic discovery will inspire future drug designs targeting CHRNB2 in the brain for the treatment of nicotine addiction.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1038/s41588-023-01417-8

Authors

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Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Nuffield Department of Population Health
Sub department:
Clinical Trial Service Unit
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-7792-9422
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Nuffield Department of Population Health
Sub department:
Clinical Trial Service Unit
Role:
Author

Contributors


Publisher:
Springer Nature
Journal:
Nature Genetics More from this journal
Volume:
55
Issue:
7
Pages:
1138-1148
Publication date:
2023-06-12
Acceptance date:
2023-05-04
DOI:
EISSN:
1546-1718
ISSN:
1061-4036


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
1344569
Local pid:
pubs:1344569
Deposit date:
2023-05-24
ARK identifier:

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