Scripps Institute researchers explore bacterial enzyme for anti-smoking therapy

A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, or TSRI, claim to have used a bacterial enzyme which could help develop a drug with potential anti-smoking therapeutic properties. The research team says that the enzyme had the potential to be recreated under lab conditions, and could aid in the development of anti-smoking drug.

The researchers believe that their alternative anti-smoking therapy is far better than the other current smoking cessation aid options available for chain smokers. The scientists say that the options that are currently available fail in 80 to 90 percent of the people, thus raising a need to devise a new therapy.

The News Medical reports that the logic used by the researchers to create the enzyme-based anti-smoking therapy is to find, stop or destroy nicotine from reaching the brain of the smoker. The researchers say that the series of events associated with depriving the person of the nictontine will trigger a relapse into smoking.

"Our research is in the early phase of the drug development process, but the study tells us the enzyme has the right properties to eventually become a successful therapeutic," said researcher Kim Janda, in a TSRI press release.

During the study, Janda and his colleagues derived the enzyme NicA2 from a bacteria called Pseudomonas putida. Comparing the bacteria to “Pac-Man,” the researcher says that the naturally-occurring bacteria in the tobacco field consumes nicotine as its source of nitrogen and carbon. Upon identifying the nicotine-destructive property of the bacteria, the TSRI researchers tested the potential of the organism as anti-smoking therapy.

The research team found that the enzyme stayed stable for three weeks at 98 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, the nicotine degradation by the enzyme in left no toxic metabolites. Adding to the list of desire therapeutic properties, the research team found that the enzyme kept relatively stable in serum. The complete details of the study have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

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