A nicotine vaccine may break the cycle that fuels the habit.
By Regina Nuzzo
Special to The Times
Los Angeles Times — Health Section
July 17, 2006
JOSEPH DARMIENTO of Coatesville, Penn., once quit smoking for 13 weeks, his longest cigarette-free stretch since he got hooked as a teenager. Inspiration arrived in the form of Marine Corps boot camp, where cigarettes were strict no-no’s.
Now, though, the 37-year-old computer systems administrator just can’t shake his pack-a-day habit.
After trying and failing with other tools such as the nicotine patch and gum, and Zyban pills, Darmiento has signed up to help test a new kind of quit-smoking tool: a nicotine vaccine.
The hope is that the vaccine could teach his immune system to recognize nicotine in his bloodstream and keep it from entering his brain. As smoking becomes less pleasurable and less reinforcing, it might be easier for him to combat his cravings. “Once I put the physical part behind me, then I can concentrate on the mental battle,” Darmiento says.
