Recent studies have increasingly suggested that α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7nAChRs) play a vital role in modulating cellular responses to nicotine, particularly regarding their expression in DCs, macrophages and T cells, which are key components of the immune responses observed in asthma pathology (Borkar et al. 2024; Ren et al. 2017). The gene discussed is CHRNA7; the disease is asthma.