A group of Swiss scientists caused a sensation by announcing on May 14 at the annual congress of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held this time in Orlando (Florida, USA), the results of testing an experimental vaccine designed to combat nicotine addiction. \n \nThe idea is to "neutralize" the effect of nicotine on the human body before its molecule reaches and in a certain way stimulates certain areas of the brain that are "responsible" for the onset of addiction, UNIAN reports. \n \nAs reported by Professor Jacques Cornuz from the Medical University Center in Lausanne (Switzerland), who is the coordinator of this first clinical trial, 40% of volunteers who received the vaccination completely abstained from tobacco for at least 6 months. \n \nResearch in the field of fundamental immunology conducted over many years on animals gave hope that such an approach could be successfully applied to humans as well. The vaccine was administered to 159 men who participated in the experiment; another 80 were given a placebo (a substance devoid of any biological effect) instead of the vaccine. \n\nAccording to Professor Cornuz, all those who received the vaccine produced "anti-nicotine" antibodies in varying proportions. Truly convincing results were recorded in those experiment participants who showed a "high level" of response to the vaccine (57% of the test subjects then quit smoking). \n \n"The results we obtained statistically clearly prove the existence of a connection between the level of anti-nicotine antibodies — a consequence of the vaccine's effect — and the clinical effect," the scientists emphasize. \n \nHowever, they acknowledge (without in any way explaining this phenomenon) that from the group of patients receiving placebo instead of the vaccine, "unexpectedly many" (31%) experiment participants also gave up smoking. \n