Dental News - New study shows cancer-linked genetic changes in electronic cigarette users

Dental Tribune International

Mon. 1. April 2019

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LOS ANGELES, U.S.: Despite their thriving market, electronic cigarettes may not be a harmless alternative to smoking after all. A recent study has shown that e-cigarette users develop some of the same cancer-related molecular changes in their oral tissue as cigarette smokers, adding to growing public health concern.

In the study, researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) analyzed gene expression in the oral epithelial cells of 42 e-cigarette users, 24 cigarette smokers and 27 nonsmokers to test for gene alteration, as certain alterations in gene expression can lead to cancer. Both smokers and vapers displayed abnormal expression, or deregulation, in a large number of genes linked to cancer development. About 26 percent of the deregulated genes in e-cigarette users were identical to those found in smokers. Some deregulated genes found in e-cigarette users, but not in smokers, are associated with lung cancer, esophageal cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer and leukemia.

“The existing data show that e-cig vapor is not merely ‘water vapor’ as some people believe,” said senior author Dr. Ahmad Besaratinia, Associate Professor of Research Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “Although the concentrations of most carcinogenic compounds in e-cig products are much lower than those in cigarette smoke, there is no safe level of exposure to carcinogens.”

Besaratinia noted that the molecular changes seen in the study are not cancer, or even pre-cancer, but rather an early warning of a process that could potentially lead to cancer if left untreated. The scientists are planning to replicate the study with a larger group of subjects and explore the mechanisms that cause gene deregulation. They are also launching another study in which smokers will switch to e-cigarettes to see whether any changes occur in gene regulation after the switch. “For the most part, the participants are as curious as we are to know whether these products are safe,” said Besaratinia.

The study, titled “Deregulation of biologically significant genes and associated molecular pathways in the oral epithelium of electronic cigarette users,” was published online in the first February 2019 issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

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