E-Cigarettes Trigger Damaging Immune Responses

Electronic cigarettes may be no healthier than traditional cigarettes, says a new study published in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and they may trigger the same immune responses that lead to lung disease.

"There is confusion about whether e-cigarettes are 'safer' than cigarettes because the potential adverse effects of e-cigarettes are only beginning to be studied," said the study's senor author Mehmet Kesimer, Ph.D.

Kesimer's study was the first one to use samples of human airways to investigate biomarkers in the lungs that would indicate whether or not the e-cigarettes were doing harm. "Our results suggest that e-cigarettes might be just as bad as cigarettes," said Kesimer, who is associate professor of pathology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

The study compared sputum samples from 15 e-cigarette users, 14 current cigarette smokers and 15 non-smokers. Kesimer found significant increases in proteins in the lungs that can contribute to inflammatory lung diseases, such as COPD and cystic fibrosis: The proteins were unique to those who smoked electronic cigarettes.

Kesimer also found an increase in the proteins outside the lungs, an increase associated with cell death in the epithelial and endothelium, the tissues lining blood vessels and organs.

In addition, the study found that e-cigarettes produced some of the same negative consequences as cigarettes. Both e-cigarette and cigarette users exhibited significant increases in biomarkers associated with lung disease, and an increase in mucus secretions associated with lung diseases including chronic bronchitis and asthma.

"Comparing the harm of e-cigarettes with cigarettes is a little like comparing apples to oranges," Kesimer said. "Our data shows that e-cigarettes have a signature of harm in the lung that is both similar and unique, which challenges the concept that switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes is a healthier alternative."

Many smokers who switched from tobacco to electronic cigarettes were relying on early studies that suggested they were up to 99 percent healthier than traditional cigarettes. But other recent studies have found that electronic cigarettes may not be safe at all, and researchers from West Virginia University found that the vapor from a single e-cigarette may be enough to damage vascular function.

In an animal study, they found that arteries narrowed by 31 percent within an hour of being exposed to vapor from electronic cigarettes. Long-term exposure caused aortic stiffness to increase two-and-a-half times when compared to the control group which was exposed to normal room air. In short, the vapor caused premature aging, an indicator of cardiovascular disease.