Perspectives on Epigenetics alterations associated with Smoking and Vaping.

Introduction:
This article provides an overview of the current studies on the associations of smoking and vaping with epigenetic alterations in respiratory cells. It also discusses future research directions in epigenetic studies related to vaping.

Key Points:

* Exposure to tobacco smoking has been found to be associated with epigenetic changes in the respiratory tract.
* Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) contain toxic and irritant chemicals, and their use has been linked to respiratory health conditions.
* E-cigarette use (vaping) is also associated with epigenetic changes in respiratory cells, similar to those observed with cigarette smoking.
* Emerging evidence suggests potential associations of vaping with epigenetic alterations, and there are both common and different epigenetic changes when comparing smokers and vapers with controls.
* Current studies on the epigenetic changes associated with vaping are limited, but recent mouse and human studies have shown DNa methylation changes, reduced methylation levels in LINE-1 repeat elements, and global DNa hydroxymethylation in both vapers and smokers.
* Exosomes, which contain enriched amounts of surface proteins, regulatory proteins, mRNas, miRNas, and lncRNas, may mediate cell-to-cell communication and affect many physiological processes.
* Identified miRNas and lncRNas have been found to be involved in multiple biological pathways and processes in respiratory tract, such as regulation of nucleotide and nucleic acid metabolism and transcription factor activities.

Main Message:
The article highlights the importance of studying the epigenetic changes associated with vaping and the potential role of epigenetic biomarkers in understanding the etiology of vaping-associated diseases. Further investigation is needed to determine the toxicities of vaping at cellular/subcellular levels and to understand how smoking and vaping affect the epigenetic changes in different cell or tissue types.

Xie Z, Rahman I, Goniewicz ML, Li D. Perspectives on Epigenetics alterations associated with Smoking and Vaping. Function (Oxford, England). 2021;2(3):1. doi:10.1093/function/zqab022