title: Role of nicotine in gallbladder carcinoma: a preliminary report.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the role of nicotine in gallbladder carcinoma and its association with the stage and degree of cancer differentiation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tissue samples from gallbladder were obtained from 20 patients with gallbladder cancer and 20 age- and gender-matched patients with cholelithiasis who served as the control group. Gallbladder tissue (2 g) was extracted and analyzed for nicotine content using capillary gas chromatography. Nitrogen was used as the carrier gas. Standard curves of nicotine in methanol were made by injecting the internal standards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significantly higher tissue nicotine concentration was observed in the gallbladder carcinoma group than that in the control group (179.63 ng/mg vs 6.00 ng/mg, P < 0.001). The stage and degree of cancer differentiation did not seem to affect the nicotine levels. Gallbladder tissue contained a significantly higher nicotine concentration in smokers with cancer compared with those in the control group (1570.00 ng/mg vs 232.25 ng/mg, P < 0.001). Interestingly, non-smokers in cancer group also had a higher nicotine concentration than the control group (161.50 ng/mg vs 4.00 ng/mg, P = 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nicotine is selectively concentrated in malignant gallbladder tissue irrespective of smoking status, showing its strong association with gallbladder cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
authors.forename: Somprakas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.forename: Rupesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Priya
authors.forename: Tej Bali
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: Pradeep K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Vijay K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Shukla
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009538:Nicotine / Q000032:analysis*; D012907:Smoking; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D009538:Nicotine