UP study: Vaping triggers cancer-like cell changes
Even though e-cigarettes might have fewer chemicals than regular cigarettes, they are still linked to severe lung and heart problems.
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Even though e-cigarettes might have fewer chemicals than regular cigarettes, they are still linked to severe lung and heart problems.
SCIENTISTS at UP Diliman have shown that vaping induces cancer-like cell behavior, helping explain e-cigarette damage to lung tissue.
Scientists from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) have found new evidence that vaping can cause cells to act like cancer. This helps explain recent reports showing that e-cigarette vapor changes the way lung cells behave.
Researchers Daniel Angelo Mirador, Jose Lorenzo Ferrer, Kim Denyse Hao Lin and Dr. Reynaldo Garcia from the UPD-CS NIMBB looked at how vaping affects cancer-related processes in the body. They focused on a specific molecule called VALT1. This molecule is found in higher amounts in both vape users and some lung cancer tumors. The team studied how VALT1 acts when human cells are exposed to e-cigarette vapor.
Dr. Garcia explained that in a previous study, they found a different molecule (SCAL1) that helps cancer cells survive cigarette smoke by cleaning out harmful chemicals. Instead of dying off as they should, the damaged cells stick around, which can lead to cancer. “We wanted to know if vaping does something similar,” Dr. Garcia said. “Does vape exposure change cells in a way that allows damaged ones to survive, just like cigarette smoke?”
The team found that exposure to vape chemicals increases VALT1 levels. This increase makes cells multiply faster, resist natural cell death, move around more and undergo structural changes — all of which are classic signs of cancer. Interestingly, just having too much VALT1 can cause these cancer-like changes even without vape exposure. Furthermore, VALT1 helps stressed lung cancer cells (like the A549 cell line) survive, but it doesn’t do the same for normal, healthy cells.
“This provides evidence that vaping is not safe, and its harmful effects are partly caused by VALT1,” Mirador said. “When exposed to e-cigarettes, our cells start taking on cancer-like traits.” He added that this research also helps scientists understand more about these specific types of molecules, which were once thought of as “junk” but are now known to play major roles in both health and disease.
Even though e-cigarettes might have fewer chemicals than regular cigarettes, they are still linked to severe lung and heart problems. The researchers noted that it could take decades to fully understand the long-term effects of vaping, including its direct links to cancer. Because lung cancer takes a long time to develop and vaping is a fairly new trend, there still aren’t many studies on how it affects our cells. This shows why more research is urgently needed.
The team’s research is published in Non-Coding RNA, an international, peer-reviewed scientific journal. Eunice Jean C. Patron/UPD-CS Science Communications
