Protein Information

Name CHRNA3
Synonyms Acetycholine receptor neuronal nicotinic alpha 3 subunit; CHRNA 3; CHRNA3; Cholinergic receptor neuronal nicotinic alpha polypeptide 3; Cholinergic receptor nicotinic alpha polypeptide 3; NACHRA 3; NACHRA3; Neuronal acetylcholine receptor protein alpha 3 chain…

Compound Information

Name nicotine
CAS

Reference List

PubMed Abstract RScore(About this table)
19706762 Saccone NL, Wang JC, Breslau N, Johnson EO, Hatsukami D, Saccone SF, Grucza RA, Sun L, Duan W, Budde J, Culverhouse RC, Fox L, Hinrichs AL, Steinbach JH, Wu M, Rice JP, Goate AM, Bierut LJ: The CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 nicotinic receptor subunit gene cluster affects risk for nicotine dependence in African-Americans and in European-Americans. Cancer Res. 2009 Sep 1;69(17):6848-56. Epub 2009 Aug 25.

Cases were nicotine-dependent and controls were nondependent smokers.
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19696770 Greenbaum L, Rigbi A, Teltsh O, Lerer B: Role of genetic variants in the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 cluster in nicotine dependence risk: importance of gene-environment interplay. Mol Psychiatry. 2009 Sep;14(9):828-30.

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20008879 Boezen HM: Genome-wide association studies: what do they teach us about asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease?. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2009 Dec;6(8):701-3.


The first GWA study on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms at the alpha-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (CHRNA 3/5) locus, identified earlier as risk factor for both lung cancer and nicotine dependence, to be associated with COPD.
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19132693 Chen X, Chen J, Williamson VS, An SS, Hettema JM, Aggen SH, Neale MC, Kendler KS: Variants in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors alpha5 and alpha3 increase risks to nicotine dependence. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2009 Oct 5;150B(7):926-33.

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors bind to nicotine and initiate the physiological and pharmacological responses to tobacco smoking.
In this study, seven single nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped in the CHRNA5 and CHRNA3 genes.
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19628476 Keskitalo K, Broms U, Heliovaara M, Ripatti S, Surakka I, Perola M, Pitkaniemi J, Peltonen L, Aromaa A, Kaprio J: Association of serum cotinine level with a cluster of three nicotinic acetylcholine receptor genes (CHRNA3/CHRNA5/CHRNB4) on chromosome 15. Hum Mol Genet. 2009 Oct 15;18(20):4007-12. Epub 2009 Jul 23.

Variation at CHRNA5/CHRNA3/CHRNB4 cluster influences nicotine level, measured as cotinine, more strongly than smoking quantity, measured by CPD, and appears thus to be involved in regulation of nicotine levels among smokers.
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19259974 Saccone NL, Saccone SF, Hinrichs AL, Stitzel JA, Duan W, Pergadia ML, Agrawal A, Breslau N, Grucza RA, Hatsukami D, Johnson EO, Madden PA, Swan GE, Wang JC, Goate AM, Rice JP, Bierut LJ: Multiple distinct risk loci for nicotine dependence identified by dense coverage of the complete family of nicotinic receptor subunit (CHRN) genes. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2009 Jun 5;150B(4):453-66.

To detect and characterize the influence of genetic variation on vulnerability to nicotine dependence, we analyzed 226 SNPs covering the complete family of 16 CHRN genes, which encode the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits, in a sample of 1,050 nicotine-dependent cases and 879 non-dependent controls of European descent.
After correcting for the multiple tests across this gene family, we found significant association for two distinct loci in the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene cluster, one locus in the CHRNB3-CHRNA6 gene cluster, and a fourth, novel locus in the CHRND-CHRNG gene cluster.
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19564872 Greenbaum L, Lerer B: Differential contribution of genetic variation in multiple brain nicotinic cholinergic receptors to nicotine dependence: recent progress and emerging open questions. Mol Psychiatry. 2009 Oct;14(10):912-45. Epub 2009 Jun 30.

Brain nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR)-encoding genes are among the most prominent candidate genes studied in the context of ND, because of their biological relevance as binding sites for nicotine.
This situation has changed dramatically in the last 2 years during which intensive research had addressed the issue, mainly from the genetics perspective, and has shown the importance of the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 and CHRNA6-CHRNB3 loci in ND-related phenotypes.
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19789337 Liu Y, Liu P, Wen W, James MA, Wang Y, Bailey-Wilson JE, Amos CI, Pinney SM, Yang P, de Andrade M, Petersen GM, Wiest JS, Fain PR, Schwartz AG, Gazdar A, Gaba C, Rothschild H, Mandal D, Kupert E, Lee J, Seminara D, Minna J, Anderson MW, You M: Haplotype and cell proliferation analyses of candidate lung cancer susceptibility genes on chromosome 15q24-25.1. Cancer Res. 2009 Oct 1;69(19):7844-50. Epub 2009 Sep 29.

Recent genome-wide association studies have linked the chromosome 15q24-25.1 locus to nicotine addiction and lung cancer susceptibility.
We identified two distinct subregions, hapL (P = 3.20 x 10 (-6)) and hapN (P = 1.51 x 10 (-6)), which were significantly associated with familial lung cancer. hapL encompasses IREB2, LOC123688, and PSMA4, and hapN encompasses the three nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit genes CHRNA5, CHRNA3, and CHRNB4.
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19628475 Sabatelli M, Eusebi F, Al-Chalabi A, Conte A, Madia F, Luigetti M, Mancuso I, Limatola C, Trettel F, Sobrero F, Di Angelantonio S, Grassi F, Di Castro A, Moriconi C, Fucile S, Lattante S, Marangi G, Murdolo M, Orteschi D, Del Grande A, Tonali P, Neri G, Zollino M: Rare missense variants of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor altering receptor function are associated with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Hum Mol Genet. 2009 Oct 15;18(20):3997-4006. Epub 2009 Jul 23.

Since neuronal acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are part of the glutamatergic pathway, we searched for sequence variants in CHRNA3, CHRNA4 and CHRNB4 genes, encoding neuronal nicotinic AChR subunits, in 245 SALS patients and in 450 controls.
NAChRs formed by mutant alpha3 and alpha4 and wild-type (WT) beta4 subunits exhibited altered affinity for nicotine (Nic), reduced use-dependent rundown of Nic-activated currents (I (Nic)) and reduced desensitization leading to sustained intracellular Ca (2+) concentration, in comparison with WT-nAChR.
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19698703 Landgren S, Engel JA, Andersson ME, Gonzalez-Quintela A, Campos J, Nilsson S, Zetterberg H, Blennow K, Jerlhag E: Association of nAChR gene haplotypes with heavy alcohol use and body mass. Brain Res. 2009 Dec 11;1305 Suppl:S72-9. Epub 2009 Aug 19.

This study includes a Spanish population (n=417) of three groups based on their alcohol consumption; abstainers (n=142), moderate (<280 g/week, n=111) and heavy drinkers (> 280 g/week, n=164). 20 tag SNPs in five nicotine receptor subunit genes (CHRNA3, 4, and 6; CHRNB2 and 3) were genotyped and analysed for single marker and haplotype associations.
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19859904 Li MD, Xu Q, Lou XY, Payne TJ, Niu T, Ma JZ: Association and interaction analysis of variants in CHRNA5/CHRNA3/CHRNB4 gene cluster with nicotine dependence in African and European Americans. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2010 Apr 5;153B(3):745-56.

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19733931 Carcereny E, Ramirez JL, Sanchez-Ronco M, Isla D, Cobo M, Moran T, de Aguirre I, Okamoto T, Wei J, Provencio M, Lopez-Vivanco G, Camps C, Domine M, Alberola V, Sanchez JM, Massuti B, Mendez P, Taron M, Rosell R: Blood-based CHRNA3 single nucleotide polymorphism and outcome in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients. Lung Cancer. 2009 Sep 4.

Nicotine acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are associated with resistance to gemcitabine, cisplatin and paclitaxel in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines.
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19064933 Joslyn G, Brush G, Robertson M, Smith TL, Kalmijn J, Schuckit M, White RL: Chromosome 15q25.1 genetic markers associated with level of response to alcohol in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Dec 23;105(51):20368-73. Epub 2008 Dec 8.

Genetic association studies indicate that a genetic locus, which includes the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene cluster, plays a role in nicotine consumption and dependence.
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20234319 Niu X, Chen Z, Shen S, Liu Y, Zhou D, Zhang J, Li Z, Yu Y, Liao M, Lu S, He L: Association of the CHRNA3 Locus with Lung Cancer Risk and Prognosis in Chinese Han Population. J Thorac Oncol. 2010 Mar 15.

INTRODUCTION:: Recent genome-wide association studies in Caucasians revealed association with lung cancer risk of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the locus containing two nicotine acetylcholine receptor CHRNA genes.
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19641473 Schwartz AG, Cote ML, Wenzlaff AS, Land S, Amos CI: Racial differences in the association between SNPs on 15q25.1, smoking behavior, and risk of non-small cell lung cancer. J Thorac Oncol. 2009 Oct;4(10):1195-201.

INTRODUCTION: Three genome-wide association studies identified a region on chromosome 15q25.1 associated with lung cancer and measures of nicotine addiction.
This region includes nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit genes CHRNA3 and CHRNA5.
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19029397 Stevens VL, Bierut LJ, Talbot JT, Wang JC, Sun J, Hinrichs AL, Thun MJ, Goate A, Calle EE: Nicotinic receptor gene variants influence susceptibility to heavy smoking. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Dec;17(12):3517-25. Epub 2008 Nov 24.


Compared with the most common allele, two separate groups of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene cluster were associated with heavy smoking with a very high statistical significance.
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19178568 Kamens HM, McKinnon CS, Li N, Helms ML, Belknap JK, Phillips TJ: The alpha3 Subunit of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor is a Candidate Gene for Ethanol Stimulation. Genes Brain Behav. 2008 Oct 21.

Alcohol and nicotine are co-abused, and preclinical and clinical data suggest that common genes may influence responses to both drugs.
Finally, the locomotor response to ethanol was examined in mice heterozygous for a null mutation of the alpha3 nAChR subunit gene (Chrna3).
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19429911 Freathy RM, Ring SM, Shields B, Galobardes B, Knight B, Weedon MN, Smith GD, Frayling TM, Hattersley AT: A common genetic variant in the 15q24 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene cluster (CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4) is associated with a reduced ability of women to quit smoking in pregnancy. Hum Mol Genet. 2009 Aug 1;18(15):2922-7. Epub 2009 May 9.

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19010884 Le Marchand L, Derby KS, Murphy SE, Hecht SS, Hatsukami D, Carmella SG, Tiirikainen M, Wang H: Smokers with the CHRNA lung cancer-associated variants are exposed to higher levels of nicotine equivalents and a carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamine. Cancer Res. 2008 Nov 15;68(22):9137-40.

A locus at 15q24/15q25.1, which includes the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor A subunits 3 and 5 (CHRNA3 and CHRNA5) genes, has recently been associated with lung cancer risk, self-reported number of cigarettes smoked per day, and a nicotine dependence scale.
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19247474 Caporaso N, Gu F, Chatterjee N, Sheng-Chih J, Yu K, Yeager M, Chen C, Jacobs K, Wheeler W, Landi MT, Ziegler RG, Hunter DJ, Chanock S, Hankinson S, Kraft P, Bergen AW: Genome-wide and candidate gene association study of cigarette smoking behaviors. PLoS One. 2009;4(2):e4653. Epub 2009 Feb 27.


In the chr15q25.1 region spanning the nicotinic receptors CHRNA3 and CHRNA5, we identified multiple SNPs associated with CPD (p <10 (-3)), including rs1051730, which has been associated with nicotine dependence, smoking intensity and lung cancer risk.
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19443489 Wang JC, Cruchaga C, Saccone NL, Bertelsen S, Liu P, Budde JP, Duan W, Fox L, Grucza RA, Kern J, Mayo K, Reyes O, Rice J, Saccone SF, Spiegel N, Steinbach JH, Stitzel JA, Anderson MW, You M, Stevens VL, Bierut LJ, Goate AM: Risk for nicotine dependence and lung cancer is conferred by mRNA expression levels and amino acid change in CHRNA5. Hum Mol Genet. 2009 Aug 15;18(16):3125-35. Epub 2009 May 14.


Nicotine dependence risk and lung cancer risk are associated with variants in a region of chromosome 15 encompassing genes encoding the nicotinic receptor subunits CHRNA5, CHRNA3 and CHRNB4.
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