Vaping, Environmental Toxicants Exposure, and Lung Cancer Risk

Shaimaa A Shehata; Eman A Toraih; Ezzat A Ismail; Abeer M Hagras; Ekramy Elmorsy; Manal S Fawzy

doi:10.3390/cancers15184525

Vaping, Environmental Toxicants Exposure, and Lung Cancer Risk

Cancers (Basel). 2023 Sep 12;15(18):4525. doi: 10.3390/cancers15184525.

Authors

Shaimaa A Shehata¹, Eman A Toraih^{2

3}, Ezzat A Ismail⁴, Abeer M Hagras¹, Ekramy Elmorsy^{5

6}, Manal S Fawzy⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt.
² Division of Endocrine and Oncologic Surgery, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
³ Genetics Unit, Department of Histology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt.
⁵ Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Northern Border University, Arar 73213, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Northern Border University, Arar 73213, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Lung cancer (LC) is the second-most prevalent tumor worldwide. According to the most recent GLOBOCAN data, over 2.2 million LC cases were reported in 2020, with an estimated new death incident of 1,796,144 lung cancer cases. Genetic, lifestyle, and environmental exposure play an important role as risk factors for LC. E-cigarette, or vaping, products (EVPs) use has been dramatically increasing world-wide. There is growing concern that EVPs consumption may increase the risk of LC because EVPs contain several proven carcinogenic compounds. However, the relationship between EVPs and LC is not well established. E-cigarette contains nicotine derivatives (e.g., nitrosnornicotine, nitrosamine ketone), heavy metals (including organometal compounds), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and flavorings (aldehydes and complex organics). Several environmental toxicants have been proven to contribute to LC. Proven and plausible environmental carcinogens could be physical (ionizing and non-ionizing radiation), chemicals (such as asbestos, formaldehyde, and dioxins), and heavy metals (such as cobalt, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and nickel). Air pollution, especially particulate matter (PM) emitted from vehicles and industrial exhausts, is linked with LC. Although extensive environmental exposure prevention policies and smoking reduction strategies have been adopted globally, the dangers remain. Combined, both EVPs and toxic environmental exposures may demonstrate significant synergistic oncogenicity. This review aims to analyze the current publications on the importance of the relationship between EVPs consumption and environmental toxicants in the pathogenesis of LC.

Keywords: cancer; e-smoking; electronic cigarette; environment; pulmonary; risk; vaping.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at Northern Border University, Arar, KSA for funding this research work through the project number “NBU-FFR-2023-0035”.