Gender-stratified gene and gene-treatment interactions in smoking cessation

We conducted gender-stratified analyses on a systems-based candidate gene study of 53 regions involved in nicotinic response and the brain—reward pathway in two randomized clinical trials of smoking cessation treatments (placebo, bupropion, transdermal and nasal spray nicotine replacement therapy). We adjusted P -values for multiple correlated tests, and used a Bonferroni-corrected α-level of 5 × 10 −4 to determine system-wide significance. Four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs12021667, rs12027267, rs6702335, rs12039988; r 2 >0.98) in erythrocyte membrane protein band 4.1 ( EPB41 ) had a significant male-specific marginal association with smoking abstinence (odds ratio (OR)=0.5; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.3–0.6) at end of treatment (adjusted P