Estrogen potentially contributes to nicotine addiction among women, finds study

Presented at the Discover BMB, the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the study revealed that the discovery could lead to new treatments for women who are having trouble quitting nicotine-containing products such as cigarettes.

“Studies show that women have a higher propensity to develop addiction to nicotine than men and are less successful at quitting. Our work aims to understand what makes women more susceptible to nicotine use disorder to reduce the gender disparity in treating nicotine addiction,” said Sally Pauss, doctoral student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington.

For the new study, the researchers used large sequencing datasets of estrogen-induced genes to identify genes that are expressed in the brain and exhibit a hormone function. They found just one class of genes that met these criteria: those coding for olfactomedins. They then performed a series of studies with human uterine cells and rats to better understand the interactions between olfactomedins, estrogen and nicotine.

The researchers found that the sex hormone estrogen induces the expression of olfactomedins, proteins that are suppressed by nicotine in key areas of the brain involved in reward and addiction.

The results revealed that estrogen activation of olfactomedins — which is suppressed when nicotine is present — might serve as a feedback loop for driving nicotine addiction processes by activating areas of the brain’s reward circuitry such as the nucleus accumbens.

The findings suggested that estrogen–nicotine–olfactomedin interactions could be targeted with therapies to help control nicotine consumption.

“Our research has the potential to better the lives and health of women struggling with substance use. If we can confirm that estrogen drives nicotine seeking and consumption through olfactomedins, we can design drugs that might block that effect by targeting the altered pathways. These drugs would hopefully make it easier for women to quit nicotine.” said Pauss

Reference: Sally Pauss, University of Kentucky; Zachary Kipp, University of Kentucky; Cassandra Gipson-Reichardt, University of Kentucky; Terry Hinds, University of Kentucky; AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; Meeting: Discover BMB