The article, in which the genetic codes of smoking and alcohol habits were deciphered through the expert view of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Çerkez Ergören, was published by published in Nature, one of the most respected journals in its field
Date Added: 15 December 2022, 13:17


The study, which is the subject of the article published in the journal Nature and covers 3.4 million people, identified more than 3,500 genetic variations that potentially affect smoking and alcohol habits.

Cigarette and alcohol use, which stand out as the trigger of many diseases from cardiovascular diseases to cancer, is seen as one of the most important risk factors that threaten public health. Scientific studies reveal that these habits are directly related to genetic predisposition.


According to the article published in Nature, the most respected publication of its field, with the signature of Miriam Naddaf, there are more than 3,500 genetic variations that potentially affect smoking and drinking habits. This result was uncovered at the end of a study involving nearly 3.4 million people of African, American, East Asian and European descent. However, the fact that the study does not cover the Middle East region, where the use of tobacco derivatives is quite intense, was interpreted as an important deficiency by the Nature editors, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Çerkez Ergören’s expert opinion was sought.

The study “Strong Relationship Between Serotonin Transporter 5-HTTVNTR Variant and Psychoactive Substance (Nicotine) Use in the Turkish Cypriot Population”, prepared in 2020, was published in Current Drug Metabolism. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Çerkez Ergören conducted one of the first studies in the region on the interaction of nicotine addiction, neurobiological, environmental and genetic factors.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Çerkez Ergören: “It is extremely important that the scientific studies we carry out in our country reveal the response they see in the world.”
Stating that the study he carried out in 2020 is the first genetic epidemiology study investigating genetic variations associated with smoking behavior in the Turkish Cypriot population, Near East University Faculty of Medicine Faculty Member and Near East University Hospital Medical Genetic Diagnosis Laboratory Supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Çerkez Ergören said, “Based on the outputs of this study, we suggested that genome-wide association studies should be designed to cover the entire world population in the name of preventive medicine in cigarette addiction. The realization of this proposal with the research published in Nature and the expert opinion taken from me for this study is extremely important in terms of the scientific studies we carry out in our country.”