Nicotine Replacement Backed Despite Cancer Study

Researchers, maker say they're still much safer than smoking

FRIDAY, Jan. 10, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Nicotine replacement products are much safer than smoking despite a new study suggesting that nicotine could play a role in lung cancer.

That assurance comes from a leading maker of these products as well as researchers who reported last week that nicotine appears to give a helping hand to cancer cells in the lungs.

"Our study is probably the first to show that nicotine can act similarly to a carcinogen," says Kip A. West, a researcher with the National Cancer Institute.

However, the study is based on findings in the laboratory, and researchers haven't tested their theories on animals or humans. And the scientists aren't suggesting that smokers give up trying to quit with the aid of nicotine replacement products, which now include lozenges in addition to the ubiquitous patches and gum.

To make the point even clearer, GlaxoSmithKline issued a statement saying the risks of using nicotine-based smoking cessation products "are extremely small compared to the known deadly risks of smoking." The pharmaceutical company makes NicoDerm CQ nicotine patches, Nicorette gum and Commit lozenges, which let smokers slowly wean themselves off their addiction by getting doses of nicotine without having to light up.

According to the American Cancer Society, the nicotine replacement products deliver lower doses of the chemical than tobacco. They also let smokers focus more on the psychological difficulties of quitting than the physical addiction.

While nicotine is considered to be largely responsible for turning smokers into addicts, scientists have not considered it to be a cause of cancer. Instead, researchers blame hundreds of other poisonous chemicals in cigarettes, pipes and cigars.

Federal researchers, however, wondered whether nicotine could play a role in the development of cancer. They set up experiments involving lung cells in a laboratory and report their findings in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In a healthy body, cancer-infected cells will automatically activate a kind of suicide program: The cells will kill themselves before they can wreak havoc on the body. However, when researchers hit human lung cells with cancer-causing chemicals, the levels of nicotine normally experienced by smokers appeared to prevent the cells from switching on the suicide protocol.

"It has a protective effect," West says. The survival of the cells, in turn, "allows them to accumulate mutations that would enable them to become tumor cells."

The researchers found that nicotine and a related chemical in tobacco known as NNK appear to affect the cells by influencing pathways where command signals travel.

What does this mean for nicotine products that are geared to help people stop smoking? West says the research does raise concerns if people use the products for a long time. "Prolonged use could be a bad thing," he says.

GlaxoSmithKline says its products are designed to be used over 10 to 12 weeks as a "step-down therapy" that more than doubles the chances of successfully quitting over the "cold turkey" approach.

However, the company suggested that long-term use might not be a problem. It cited a 1997 federally funded study that found people could safely take nicotine gum for five years.

What To Do

For a fact sheet on nicotine replacement products, go to the American Lung Association or the American Cancer Society.

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