March 10, 2016
Although the safety of the aerosol mixtures emitted by electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is not known, the popularity of these nicotine-delivery devices is soaring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in 2014, 13% of high school students and about 4% of middle school students reported using an e-cigarette within the past month. As the Food and Drug Administration tries to expand regulatory authority over the new devices, the agency will require safety data on constituents in the water vapor, such as formaldehyde (which is known to cause cancer), lead, nitrosamines, and propylene glycol. Unfortunately, such data are limited. To improve the understanding of the effects of e-cigarette aerosol mixtures on the oral cavity, NIDCR awarded seven research grants (RFA-DE-16-004 and RFA-DE-16-005) totaling more than $2 million.
“When a liquid nicotine solution is vaporized by an e-cigarette, multiple constituents may be found in the aerosols, but we don’t yet know the biological and physiological impact of these aerosols on oral tissue or its microbiome,” said Sundar Venkatachalam, PhD, who is the program official for e-cigarette research and director of NIDCR’s Oral and Salivary Cancer Biology Program. “The projects being funded will provide much needed information on the effects of e-cigarette chemicals on oral health.”
The following four projects will be funded for up to four years (pending progress and available funds):
- Deposition profile and toxicology of e-cigarettes in the oral epithelium
Principal Investigator: Steven Belinsky, Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research; 1R01DE026013-01 - E-cigarette use as a modifier of oral host defense and microbiome in young adults
Principal Investigators: Shyam Biswal; Claire Fraser; Mary Ann Ye Jabra-Rizk; Johns Hopkins University;
1R01DE026031-01 - Genetic, epigenetic, and transcriptomic effects of e-cig aerosol on oral epithelium
Principal Investigator: Ahmad Besaratinia; University of Southern California; 1R01DE026043-01 - Modulation of oral microenvironment by e-cigarette aerosol mixtures
Principal Investigators: Deepak Saxena and Xin Li; New York University; 1R01DE025992-01
In addition, three projects will be funded for up to two years (pending progress and available funds):
- Biology of the Oral Epithelium of E-Cigarette Smokers
Principal Investigators: Ronald Crystal and Jason Mezy; Weill Medical College of Cornell University;
1R56DE026027-01 - Effect of e-cigarettes on oral tissues in health and disease
Principal Investigators: Tara Aghaloo and Sotirios Tetradis; University of California, Los Angeles; 1R21DE025982-01 - Perturbation of craniofacial morphogenesis, healing, and regeneration by e-cigarette aerosol mixtures
Principal Investigators: Rene Olivares-Navarrete and Amanda Dickinson; Virginia Commonwealth University; 1R56DE026024-01