The role of a priori-identified addiction and smoking gene sets in smoking behaviors

Abstract

Introduction:Smoking is a leading cause of death, and genetic variation contributes to smoking behaviors. Identifying genes and sets of genes that contribute to risk for addiction is necessary to prioritize targets for functional characterization and for personalized medicine. Methods:We performed a gene set-based association and heritable enrichment study of two addiction-related gene sets, those on the Smokescreen Genotyping Array and the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, using the largest available GWAS summary statistics. We assessed smoking initiation, cigarettes per day, smoking cessation, and age of smoking initiation.Results: Individual genes within each gene set were significantly associated with smoking behaviors.Both sets of genes were significantly associated with cigarettes per day, smoking initiation, and smoking cessation. Age of initiation was only associated with the Smokescreen gene set. While both sets of genes were enriched for trait heritability, each accounts for only a small proportion of the SNPbased heritability (2-12%). Conclusions:These two gene sets are associated with smoking behaviors, but collectively account for a limited amount of the genetic and phenotypic variation of these complex traits, consistent with high polygenicity.Implications: We evaluated evidence for association and heritable contribution of expert-curated and bioinformatically identified sets of genes related to smoking. Although they impact smoking behaviors, these specifically targeted genes do not account for much of the heritability in smoking and will be of limited use for predictive purposes. Advanced genome-wide approaches and integration of other 'omics data will be needed to fully account for the genetic variation in smoking phenotypes.

A 5-Factor Framework for Assessing Tobacco Use Disorder

“…13 Pre-clinical models have identified several differentially regulated pharmacological targets for a personalized approach to treating nicotine dependence. [14][15][16] However, people who smoke have unique profiles that are influenced by their habits, personality, lifestyle, and sociocultural exposure in addition to their genetics, metabolism, and physical and mental health status. 2 Expanding the scope of treatment to include psychological, behavioral, neurobiological, and social contributions to the development and maintenance of TUD will improve treatment precision and clinical outcomes.…”

Genes identified in rodent studies of alcohol intake are enriched for heritability of human substance use

“…Unique challenges exist for cross-species data integration, including homology of genes and the substantial differences between human and model organism phenotypes. There is an urgent need to understand whether and under what conditions genes identified in model organism genomic studies of addiction are also implicated in human GWASs of related traits 14 . Few studies have systematically examined the overlap of genes identified in rodent paradigms that model aspects of addiction [15][16][17][18] with those identified in humans.…”