E-cigarette use, including vaping, is often seen as a safer and trendier alternative to traditional tobacco products.
However, the new study in Scientific Reports suggests an elevation of carcinogenic cellular signaling pathways in exclusive e-cigarette users when compared to non-users.
“Exosomal microRNAs play a crucial role in inflammation and disease processes like cancer,” says first author Dongmei Li, a professor of clinical and translational research at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and the director of Translational Science Statistical Support Services for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
“However, little is known about how exclusive e-cigarette use affects exosomal microRNAs, which regulate genes that influence cancer-causing pathways.”
By comparing exosomal microRNA profiles between exclusive e-cigarette users and non-users, the researchers identified several exosomal microRNAs that are upregulated—more active than normal—in exclusive e-cigarette users. These overactive microRNAs are involved in cancer pathways, suggesting an elevation of carcinogenic cellular signaling pathways in exclusive e-cigarette users.
“Our results contribute significantly to understanding the potential health risks of e-cigarette use and should be considered by medical professionals and the public to protect public health,” Li says.
E-cigarettes are electronic smoking devices that vaporize liquid for inhalation by the user. These liquids and aerosols typically contain various combinations of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, nicotine, flavoring agents, and other chemicals.
According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among high school and middle school students.
With the National Youth Tobacco Survey of 2024 reporting that 7.8% of high school students and 3.5% of middle school students self-reported current e-cigarette use, and with e-cigarettes the most prevalent tobacco product used by those groups, exploring the potential link the behavior has with cancer is increasingly important to inform the public and future regulatory policies.
Li and Zidian Xie utilized blood plasma specimens from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study biorepositories to analyze exosomal epigenetic biomarkers—microRNAs—associated with flavored e-cigarette usage. They recorded changes in the epigenetic biomarkers and related biological pathways in the group of users, using non-users as a reference.
Li and Xie then collaborated with Irfan Rahman, professor of environmental medicine, and Sadiya Bi Shaikh to conduct experiments on primary airway epithelial cells, including wound-healing and DNA damage assays from non-users, to determine the toxicity and inflammatory response. Shaikh, a postdoctoral researcher in Rahman’s lab, conducted the wound-healing and DNA damage assays.
“The toxicity genomic marker in e-cigarette users is not known,” Rahman says. “This study was defined using transcriptomic and cell-based studies because these biomarkers may be related to precancerous development and vascular damage. Noninvasive biomarkers are identified here that would help develop diagnostics for e-cigarette use causing toxicity.”
“Our study results will spark further investigations into the impact of exclusive e-cigarette use on plasma exosomal miRNAs and other biomarkers related to cancer risks, which will help us better understand the toxicity of e-cigarette use,” Li says.
Support for this research came from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, the Western New York–based Center for Research on Flavored Tobacco Products under cooperative agreement U54CA228110 from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the US Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institute on Aging.
This work was also partly supported by the University of Rochester’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) number UL1 TR002001 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Source: University of Rochester
