E-Cigarette Exposure Decreases Bone Marrow Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells

Electronic cigarettes (E-cigs) generate nicotine containing aerosols for inhalation and have emerged as a popular tobacco product among adolescents and young adults, yet little is known about their health effects due to their relatively recent introduction. Few studies have assessed the long-term ef...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gajalakshmi Ramanathan, Brianna Craver-Hoover, Rebecca J. Arechavala, David A. Herman, Jane H. Chen, Hew Yeng Lai, Samantha R. Renusch, Michael T. Kleinman, Angela G. Fleischman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
Series:Cancers
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/8/2292
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Summary:Electronic cigarettes (E-cigs) generate nicotine containing aerosols for inhalation and have emerged as a popular tobacco product among adolescents and young adults, yet little is known about their health effects due to their relatively recent introduction. Few studies have assessed the long-term effects of inhaling E-cigarette smoke or vapor. Here, we show that two months of E-cigarette exposure causes suppression of bone marrow hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Specifically, the common myeloid progenitors and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors were decreased in E-cig exposed animals compared to air exposed mice. Competitive reconstitution in bone marrow transplants was not affected by two months of E-cig exposure. When air and E-cig exposed mice were challenged with an inflammatory stimulus using lipopolysaccharide (LPS), competitive fitness between the two groups was not significantly different. However, mice transplanted with bone marrow from E-cigarette plus LPS exposed mice had elevated monocytes in their peripheral blood at five months post-transplant indicating a myeloid bias similar to responses of aged hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) to an acute inflammatory challenge. We also investigated whether E-cigarette exposure enhances the selective advantage of hematopoietic cells with myeloid malignancy associated mutations. E-cigarette exposure for one month slightly increased <i>JAK2<sup>V617F</sup></i> mutant cells in peripheral blood but did not have an impact on <i>TET2</i><sup>−/−</sup> cells. Altogether, our findings reveal that chronic E-cigarette exposure for two months alters the bone marrow HSPC populations but does not affect HSC reconstitution in primary transplants.
ISSN:2072-6694