ArticleAmerican journal of respiratory and critical care medicine2018
E-Cigarette Use Causes a Unique Innate Immune Response in the Lung, Involving Increased Neutrophilic Activation and Altered Mucin Secretion.
Article in American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 225 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
225 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 348 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guideline
- Chronic health effects associated with electronic cigarette use: A systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Lung Damage Caused by Heated Tobacco Products and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- E-cigarette use and respiratory disorders: an integrative review of converging evidence from epidemiological and laboratory studies.The European respiratory journal · 2021Pooled it
- Lung lipids associated with smoking and ECIG use in a cross-sectional study and clinical trial.Respiratory research · 2025Trial
- Acute Effect of E-Cigarette Inhalation on Mucociliary Clearance in E-Cigarette Users.Journal of aerosol medicine and pulmonary drug delivery · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Pulmonary and other health effects of electronic cigarette use among adult smokers participating in a randomized controlled smoking reduction trial.Addictive behaviors · 2019Trial
- Ferroptosis in e-cigarette aerosol-associated respiratory injury.Archives of toxicology · 2026Review
- From Aerosol to Epithelium: An Integrated Clinical, Pathologic, and Mechanistic Review of Nicotine and Cannabis Vaporizer Use and Pulmonary Disease.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2026Review
- Impact of e-cigarette vaping on the immune system across the body.Physiological reviews · 2026Review
- The triple-hit hypothesis: exploring pulmonary e-cigarette, PMEuropean respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Review
- Vaping-related lung disease: a narrative review.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Review
- Emerging multisystem disease mechanisms of e-cigarette vaping on human health.Toxicology reports · 2026Review
- To Vape or Not to Vape: Oral Health in the Age of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Electronic Non-Nicotine Delivery Systems.International dental journal · 2026Review
- Altered lung function in mice is a sensitive indicator of lung damage following 6 months of electronic nicotine delivery system aerosol exposure.American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology · 2026Article
- E-cigarette Duration and Incident COPD Among Adults Aged 40 Years and Older with a Smoking History.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Vaping induces a marked pro-inflammatory state within the lung, which is at least partially due to its immunomodulatory effects.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
165 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleE-cigarettes have become increasingly popular and little is known about their potential adverse health effects.
objectivesTo determine the effects of e-cigarette use on the airways.
methodsInduced sputum samples from cigarette smokers, e-cigarette users, and nonsmokers were analyzed by quantitative proteomics, and the total and individual concentrations of mucins MUC5AC and MUC5B were determined by light scattering/refractometry and labeled mass spectrometry, respectively. Neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation rates were also determined for the same groups. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN
resultsE-cigarette users exhibited significant increases in aldehyde-detoxification and oxidative stress-related proteins associated with cigarette smoke compared with nonsmokers. The levels of innate defense proteins associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as elastase and matrix metalloproteinase-9, were significantly elevated in e-cigarette users as well. E-cigarette users' sputum also uniquely exhibited significant increases in neutrophil granulocyte-related and NET-related proteins, such as myeloperoxidase, azurocidin, and protein-arginine deiminase 4, despite no significant elevation in neutrophil cell counts. Peripheral neutrophils from e-cigarette users showed increased susceptibility to phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-induced NETosis. Finally, a compositional change in the gel-forming building blocks of airway mucus (i.e., an elevated concentration of mucin MUC5AC) was observed in both cigarette smokers and e-cigarette users.
conclusionsTogether, our results indicate that e-cigarette use alters the profile of innate defense proteins in airway secretions, inducing similar and unique changes relative to cigarette smoking. These data challenge the concept that e-cigarettes are a healthier alternative to cigarettes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.