Nicotine 'Cooks' Proteins in the Body
Excerpt By Merritt McKinney, Reuter's Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As if smokers need another reason to kick the habit, California scientists have discovered that a byproduct of nicotine, the substance that makes cigarettes so addictive, causes a type of chemical reaction in the body similar to that which occurs when sugar is scorched or food goes bad. This reaction is thought to play a role in diabetes, cancer and other diseases.

Although the health effects of the nicotine byproduct, known as nornicotine, are uncertain, researchers also found that the substance interferes with the actions of a commonly used steroid medication.

The interaction between sugars and proteins can produce substances called advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs. The accumulation of AGEs appears to contribute to the aging process and certain diseases.

Now Drs. Kim D. Janda and Tobin J. Dickerson at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla have found that nornicotine, which is found in tobacco and is produced as nicotine is metabolized, leads to small, but significant, accumulation of one type of AGE. They also found that blood collected from smokers had higher levels of the nornicotine-related AGE than blood from nonsmokers.

"Our results provide a direct chemical link between tobacco use and the development of AGEs, a class of compounds previously implicated in various disease states," Janda and Dickerson conclude in a report in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings suggest an "unrecognized pathway" through which tobacco use can be harmful to health, according to the report.

In comments to Reuters Health, study author Janda said that the "very startling point is that this chemical reaction that nornicotine can cause also can take place with certain drugs." The researchers found that nornicotine interacted with the steroid prednisone to form byproducts that may interfere with the activity of the steroid as well as cause harmful effects.

The interaction with prednisone raises the question of whether nornicotine also interacts with other drugs, according to the California researcher.

Janda said that "the public needs to be made more aware" that tobacco and other nicotine-containing products create a substance "that was previously unrecognized as a potential danger to proteins in the body and administered prescription drugs."

Janda pointed out that even nicotine patches and gums that people use to quit smoking can trigger the reaction. Of course, if these products are successful, then a person will no longer have to consume any sort of nicotine--in cigarettes or in gums or patches.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2002;10.1073/pnas.222561699.

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