Searching for Genes Influencing Tobacco Smoking Susceptibility

Numerous studies indicate genetical background of susceptibility to tobacco smoking. The current review presents new achievements and perspectives in searching for genes involved in tobacco smoking and dependence, which have been described in recent years as a result of the development of molecular techniques. It has been emphasized that tobacco smoking is a complex, polygenic behavior. Presence of multiple gene-gene and gene-environment interactions makes it difficult to find a strong genetic association. The causes of inconsistency in the results of candidate gene association studies, as well as the new perspectives in searching for genetic determinants of tobacco smoking, are also widely discussed. In particular, the focus is on the genome-wide association studies which allow the complex analysis of links between thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms with smoking phenotypes.