Scientists compare DNA damaging properties of chemicals from vape products and cigarettes

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Apr 9 2021

Imperial Brands scientists have utilized Toxys' ToxTracker suite of stem-cell based in-vitro assays, which provide mechanistic insight into the potential DNA damaging properties of chemicals, comparing vape e-liquid samples and their aerosols to combustible cigarette smoke.

Imperial scientists are the first to publish results using the ToxTracker system for the assessment of vape e-liquids and aerosols, and it forms part of the company's continuing research into the tobacco harm reduction potential of Next Generation Products (NGPs) such as vapes.

The assays help assess how product samples may impact cellular functioning across six reporter cell lines, picking up the tell-tale molecular signs of potential harm in the form of oxidative stress, DNA and protein damage, as well as activation of the p53 gene that has a role in cell cycle regulation and tumour suppression.

The results, peer reviewed and published in the journal Mutagenesis, showed that under the conditions of test, undiluted vape e-liquids and their aerosol extracts exhibited entirely absent or vastly reduced indications of DNA damaging potential in cells, compared to smoke from combustible cigarettes.

Overall, the data from our latest study adds to the weight of scientific evidence demonstrating vape products offer significant harm reduction potential compared to combustible cigarettes."

Lukasz Czekala, Senior Pre-Clinical Toxicologist at Imperial Brands and lead author of the paper

Suite results

After calibrating and validating the system to ensure the principal e-liquid components propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerine (VG) were compatible with the ToxTracker suite, a selection of neat myblu vape e-liquids and their aerosol extracts were compared to smoke samples from the reference 1R6F combustible cigarette. Results showed that:

• Vape aerosols trapped in a buffer solution did not induce responses in any of the six cell lines.
• Undiluted flavoured e-liquids (tested up to 1%) did induce both oxidative stress reporters, but this was considered an effect of osmolarity (a measure of solution concentration) caused by PG/VG in an in-vitro testing environment.
• Nicotine content did not affect responses: tobacco flavour e-liquid at either 1.6% freebase nicotine, 1.6% nicotine salt or nicotine-free produced the same results.
• In addition, nicotine (tested alone) only produced an oxidative stress response at levels that would be a concentration of more than 40,000 times higher than found in the blood from typical smoking.

Dr Fiona Chapman, Pre-Clinical Toxicologist and corresponding author adds that "ToxTracker is quick, sensitive and can provide a greater mechanistic resolution than existing Next Generation Product (NGP) stewardship DNA damage tests like the micronucleus and Ames assays".

She continued: "Our adoption of this cutting-edge in-vitro suite reinforces our commitment to using advanced cellular assays which adhere to Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century (TT21C) principles. This also contributes to reducing industry reliance on in-vivo (animal) experiments." (Imperial does not test any products on animals: see our Position here.)

"This paper adds to the established body of scientific data that shows vaping products, when manufactured to high quality and safety standards, have significant tobacco harm reduction potential relative to continued cigarette smoking," says Dr Grant O'Connell, Head of Tobacco Harm Reduction Science at Imperial Brands. "We appreciate society's ongoing concerns about the health risks of smoking, and are committed to undertake high quality research on potentially less harmful nicotine product alternatives to combustible tobacco for adult smokers."