E-Cigarettes cause changes in lungs: Study

Nicotine vapor of electronic cigarette may cause cancerous changes in the cells of human lungs like those caused by tobacco smoke, a laboratory study said.

However, the authors of the study said these findings were preliminary and did not establish a link between e-cigarettes and cancer, Newsmax Health reported with reference to The New York Times.

The lung cells used in the study were modified to have certain genetic mutations that increase cancer risk and were placed in a liquid that had been exposed for four hours to vapor from an e-cigarette.

The researchers said it wasn't clear which e-cigarette ingredients may have been responsible for the cancer-related changes in the cells.

While the findings do not prove a link between e-cigarettes and cancer, they do highlight the fact that little is known about the long term effects of e-cigarette use or the specific effects of e-cigarette ingredients, said study leader Dr. Steven Dubinett, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Laboratory research can be difficult to apply to people, according to Dr. Neal Benowitz, a nicotine researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.

"Isolated cell systems may respond differently than organs in a person," he said.

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