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From smoking to lung cancer: the CHRNA5/A3/B4 connection

Oncogene volume 29, pages 4874–4884 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that modulate key physiological processes ranging from neurotransmission to cancer signaling. These receptors are activated by the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, and the tobacco alkaloid, nicotine. Recently, the gene cluster encoding the α3, α5 and β4 nAChR subunits received heightened interest after a succession of linkage analyses and association studies identified multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms in these genes that are associated with an increased risk for nicotine dependence and lung cancer. It is not clear whether the risk for lung cancer is direct or an effect of nicotine dependence, as evidence for both scenarios exist. In this study, we summarize the body of work implicating nAChRs in the pathogenesis of lung cancer, with special focus on the clustered nAChR subunits and their emerging role in this disease state.

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Acknowledgements

Work in the authors’ laboratories is supported in part by grants NS030243 (PDG) and AA017656 (ART) from the National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA

    M R D Improgo, M D Scofield, A R Tapper & P D Gardner

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Improgo, M., Scofield, M., Tapper, A. et al. From smoking to lung cancer: the CHRNA5/A3/B4 connection. Oncogene 29, 4874–4884 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2010.256

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