Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40604837›Full record

ArticleRespiratory research2025

Unflavored electronic cigarette exposure induces alterations in airway ciliary structure and function.

Abdo Durra, Caroline Cherry, Coline Luo, Emily Hou, Andrew Frauenpreis, Arunima Purkayastha, Isabella Passamano, Sara Makanani, Kristen Castillo, Andrew Lund and 8 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Respiratory research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. The triple-hit hypothesis: exploring pulmonary e-cigarette, PMEuropean respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors.

Abdo DurraDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Caroline CherryDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Coline LuoDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Emily HouDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Andrew FrauenpreisPrograms in Biomedical and Biological Sciences, University of Southern California Health Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA.
Arunima PurkayasthaDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Isabella PassamanoDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Sara MakananiDepartment of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Kristen CastilloDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Andrew LundDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Woosuk ChoiDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Chandani SenDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Rachana ChandranDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Tammy RickabaughDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Prashant KaushalDepartment of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Mehdi BouhaddouDepartment of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
Eszter K VladarMedicine - Pulmonary Sciences & Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
Brigitte N GompertsDepartment of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA. bgomperts@mednet.ucla.edu.

Funding

Women's CancersP30CA016042 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI Robert Damoiseaux · 1985 to 2026
$134.5M
UCLA Clinical Translational Science InstituteUL1TR001881 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI ARLEEN F. BROWN, ARASH NAEIM · 2016 to 2026
$118.1M
Training in Molecular ToxicologyT32ES015457 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI ALLARD, PATRICK, HANKINSON, OLIVER NMN · 2008 to 2025
$4.0M
Canonical to noncanonical Wnt signaling switch in airway epithelial health and diseaseR01HL166895 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · PI Eszter Katalin Vladar · 2024 to 2026
$1.9M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001881NCI NIH HHS P30 CA016042NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL166895NIEHS NIH HHS T32 ES015457The Burroughs Wellcome Fund 1020030Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program T31IR1637Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) T31DT1807UCLA Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Training Program T32ES015457
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) have been introduced as a safer alternative to traditional combustible cigarettes and have been growing in popularity. E-cig e-liquids all contain the carrier compounds, vegetable glycerin (VG), propylene glycol (PG), and nicotine, together with different flavors, but the effects of inhalation of these compounds on the airway are not well understood. This study investigates the effects of e-cig exposure on primary human airway epithelial cells grown in air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures, specifically focusing on mucociliary clearance, the lung's primary host defense mechanism whereby pathogens and particles trapped by mucus are cleared by unidirectional beating by ciliated cells. We developed a microcontroller-based exposure system to reproducibly examine cellular and molecular changes in ALI cultures from e-cig exposure. Here we show heterogeneous, donor-dependent effects of different e-cig flavors on airway epithelial cells. Examining the effects of the unflavored carrier compounds common to all e-cigs, we found that ALI airway cultures exposed to PG:VG (30:70 ratio) with 5% nicotine unflavored e-cigs show a reduction in ciliary beat frequency. Moreover, using transmission electron microscopy, we identified defects in ciliary ultrastructure induced by unflavored e-cigs. Phosphoproteomic analysis uncovered changes in phosphorylation of proteins involved in cadherin and actin binding and the Rho GTPase signaling pathway, which are all involved in cytoskeletal remodeling that may influence ciliary structure and function. Altogether, our findings suggest that exposure to all e-cigs reduces mucociliary clearance.

Indexed as

CiliaElectronic Nicotine Delivery SystemsEpithelial CellsFlavoring AgentsMucociliary ClearanceRespiratory MucosaCells, CulturedHumansNicotineVapingFlavoring AgentsNicotineCiliary beating frequencyCytoskeletal remodelingE-cigarettesMotile ciliaPhosphoproteomicsRho GTPase

Identifiers

PMID40604837
PMCPMC12224850

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.