Despite the ongoing epidemic of youth vaping, the long-term health consequences of electronic cigarette use are largely unknown. We report the effects of vaping versus smoking on the oral cell methylome of healthy young vapers and smokers relative to non-users. Whereas vapers and smokers differ in number of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) (831 vs 2,863), they share striking similarities in the distribution and patterns of DNA methylation, chromatin states, transcription factor binding motifs, and pathways. There is substantial overlap in DMR-associated genes between vapers and smokers, with the shared subset of genes enriched for transcriptional regulation, signaling, tobacco use disorders, and cancer-related pathways. Of significance is the identification of a common hypermethylated DMR at the promoter of “Hypermethylated In Cancer 1” (HIC1), a tumor suppressor gene frequently silenced in smoking-related cancers. Our data support a potential link between epigenomic dysregulation in youth vapers and disease risk. These novel findings have significant implications for public health and tobacco product regulation.
American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology
Epigenomic Dysregulation in Youth Vapers: Implications for Disease Risk Assessment
Stella Tommasi
x
, Luciano Brocchieri Stella Tommasi
Search for articles by this author
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Population and Public Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California, United States; [email protected]
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Population and Public Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California, United States; [email protected]
x
, Silvia Tornaletti Luciano Brocchieri
x
, and Ahmad Besaratinia Silvia Tornaletti
x
Ahmad Besaratinia
Search for articles by this author
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Population and Public Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California, United States
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Population and Public Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California, United States
- Stella Tommasi University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Population and Public Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California, United States
- Luciano Brocchieri TB-Seq, San Francisco, California, United States
- Silvia Tornaletti TB-Seq, San Francisco, California, United States
- Ahmad Besaratinia University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Population and Public Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California, United States
Received: May 01, 2024
Accepted: August 08, 2024