September 4, 2019

expert reaction to e-cigarettes and lung function in mice

Research, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, reports that mice exposed to e-cigarette vapour over a period of months showed signs of altered lung physiology, and great susceptibility to infections.   

Prof Jonathan Grigg, Professor of Paediatric Respiratory and Environmental Medicine, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), said:

“These data are compatible with our published study (in the European Respiratory Journal) which showed that e cigarette vapour increases the adhesion of bacteria to human airway cells.  Public Health England should now urgently consider that this presents a credible link between vaping and vulnerability to infection.”

Prof John Britton, Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies, University of Nottingham, said:

“This will be helpful to doctors who are consulted by mice thinking of moving into a cage full of smoke or vapour for the rest of their lives.

“Lungs are delicate organs, and long-term inhalation of anything other than clean air is likely to cause damage, but the relevance of damage to mouse lungs to human health is far from clear.”

‘Electronic cigarettes disrupt lung lipid homeostasis and innate immunity independent of nicotine’ by Matthew C. Madison et al. was published in The Journal of Clinical investigation at 9pm UK TIME on Wednesday 4 September 2019. 

DOI: 10.1172/JCI128531.

Declared interests

Prof John Britton: “No interests to declare.”

No others received.