UHPLC of Biomarkers Related to Tobacco Smoke Exposure

In smoking cessation studies, the levels of several biomarkers are considered in order to evaluate the people’s exposure to tobacco smoke. The well-known nicotine is typically considered as one of these biomarkers, but it has a half-life of only two hours in the human body. It is therefore not appropriate for the determination of tobacco smoke exposure after several hours or even days. Cotinine is the main metabolite of nicotine and has a half- life of about eighteen hours. Due to its higher stability, it is one of the widely investigated biomarkers related to tobacco products. However, when patients undergo smoking cessation and replace nicotine with nicotine gums and patches, their cotinine levels are the same as smokers.