CHRNA5 variants related to nicotine sensitivity in lung cancer in vitro

Nicotine, the chemical compound which causes cigarette addiction, could be responsible for some lung cancers. Evidence for genetic influence on smoking behavior and nicotine dependence has prompted a search for susceptibility genes. Furthermore, assessing the impact of sequence variants on smoking-related diseases is important to public health. Recently, the locus containing two genes encoding nicotine acetylcholine receptor subunits, CHRNA3 and CHRNA5, were shown to be associated with lung cancer risk. Here we performed to directly test whether variants at codon 398 (D398N) of CHRNA5 with an effect on nicotine sensitivity in lung cancer cells in vitro. The results showed that nicotine accelerated cell proliferation of lung cancer in time dependent and dose dependent manners and there were different optimal concentrations of nicotine on cell proliferations of lung cancer with CHRNA5 SNP398 variants. Expression of CHRNA5 mRNA was increased in lung cancer cell after nicotine treatment. These results suggest that CHRNA5 variants may be related to nicotine sensitivity in lung cancer.