Use of a rapid human primary cell-based disease screening model, to compare next generation products to combustible cigarettes

A growing number of public health bodies, regulators and governments around the world consider electronic vapor products a lower risk alternative to conventional cigarettes. Of critical importance are rapid new approach methodologies to enable the screening of next generation products (NGPs) also known as next gen-eration tobacco and nicotine products. In this study, the activity of conventional cigarette (3R4F) smoke and a range of NGP aerosols (heated tobacco product, hybrid product and electronic vapor product) captured in phos-phate buffered saline, were screened by exposing a panel of human cell-based model systems using Biologically Multiplexed Activity Profiling (BioMAP (R) Diversity PLUS (R) Panel, Eurofins Discovery). Following exposure, the biological activity for a wide range of biomarkers in the BioMAP panel were compared to determine the pres-ence of toxicity signatures that are associated with specific clinical findings. NGP aerosols were found to be weakly active in the BioMAP Diversity PLUS Panel (<= 3/148 biomarkers) whereas significant activity was observed for 3R4F (22/148 biomarkers). Toxicity associated biomarker signatures for 3R4F included immuno-suppression, skin irritation and thrombosis, with no toxicity signatures seen for the NGPs. BioMAP profiling could effectively be used to differentiate between complex mixtures of cigarette smoke or NGP aerosol extracts in a panel of human primary cell-based assays. Clinical validation of these results will be critical for confirming the utility of BioMAP for screening NGPs for potential adverse human effects.

Automated summary

Electronic vapor products are considered a lower risk alternative to conventional cigarettes, with research showing that NGP aerosols have weaker activity compared to traditional cigarettes. Traditional cigarettes exhibit significant activity and toxicity associated biomarker signatures, while NGPs show no toxicity signatures.