Is vaping better than smoking? Study links e-cigarettes to cancer, changes to DNA of smokers

People have often used vaping as a “less harmful” alternative to smoking. However, a new study published in the journal Cancer Research suggests that might not entirely be the case. The recently published research found that people who use e-cigarettes face similar changes to their DNA as smokers who go on to develop cancer.

About the study

The study conducted by University College London and the University of Innsbruck, Austria helped researchers better understand the long-term effects of e-cigarettes on health.

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Scientists analysed the epigenetic effects of tobacco and e-cigarettes on DNA methylation in over 3,500 samples to see the impact on cells directly exposed to tobacco (cheek) and those which are not.

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Notably, it was the “first research to investigate the impact of smoking and vaping on different kinds of cells – rather than just blood,” said study author and researcher at University College London, Dr Chiara Herzog and the University of Innsbruck, in a statement.

Herzog said that they strive to consider the longer-term health implications of using e-cigarettes.

The researchers noted that they cannot say that e-cigarettes cause cancer, based on this study, but they did find similar epigenetic changes in the buccal cells as smokers which are linked to the risk of lung cancer in smokers.

The epigenome is an extra layer of information that is superimposed on our DNA and it keeps changing throughout our lives due to genetic or nongenetic factors including lifestyles, exposure to hormones, environmental factors, and so on.

What did they find?

According to the study, similar epigenetic changes were observed in the cells of e-cigarette users who had smoked less than 100 tobacco cigarettes in their lives.

“We cannot say that e-cigarettes cause cancer based on our study, but we do observe e-cigarette users exhibit some similar epigenetic changes in buccal cells as smokers, and these changes are associated with future lung cancer development in smokers,” said Herzog.

She added, “Further studies will be required to investigate whether these features could be used to individually predict cancer in smokers and e-cigarette users.”

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Researchers, through their computational analysis of the samples, found that some smoking-related epigenetic changes remain more stable than others after giving up smoking.

This stability was also observed in smoking-related epigenetic changes in cervical samples, which was something that had not been studied previously.

The researcher at UCL also called for additional research on the long-term impact of vaping.

“While the scientific consensus is that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking tobacco, we cannot assume they are completely safe to use and it is important to explore their potential long-term risks and links to cancer,” said Herzog.

(With inputs from agencies)