UCLA researchers seek smokers over age 18 for a national study using an experimental vaccine to help them quit smoking.

"Only 10 to 20 percent of smokers successfully quit, so new methods beyond the patch and nicotine gum are truly needed," said Donald Tashkin, MD, principal investigator and professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

The vaccine produces antibodies that bind to nicotine. The resulting molecules are too large to reach the brain. This gradually reduces the satisfaction a smoker receives from cigarettes.

To qualify for the yearlong study, volunteers must be in general good health, smoke at least 15 cigarettes per day and want to quit. Participants who pass an initial screening visit will be assigned at random to receive one of several doses of the vaccine or a placebo. Volunteers will receive four to five injections over the course of the study.

Volunteers will keep an electronic daily diary, receive behavioral counseling sessions to help them quit and have regular physical exams, including blood tests.

Quitting is the single most effective disease-prevention strategy for smokers. Nationwide, more than 430,000 Americans die each year of smoking-related diseases, including heart disease, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer.

Side effects of the vaccine may include fever, muscle aches, tiredness, headache, nausea or vomiting, all of which usually resolve within several days following an injection. There may also be temporary discomfort at the site of the injection. These side effects, however, appear to occur with similar frequency in people who receive the vaccine, called NicVAX, and people who receive a placebo.

The study is funded by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, the company that makes NicVAX. For more information about the study, call (310) 825-3421.