Washington: People often think that thirdhand smoke is not harmful, however, it does affect us negatively. Thirdhand smoke can damage epithelial cells in the respiratory system by stressing cells and causing them to fight for survival, suggests a study.
“Our data show that cells in humans are affected by thirdhand smoke (THS). The health effects of THS, have been studied in cultured cells and animal models, but this is the first study to show a direct effect of thirdhand smoke on gene expression in humans,” said Prue Talbot, who led the research.
Thirdhand smoke, or THS, results when exhaled smoke and smoke emanating from the tip of burning cigarettes settles on surfaces such as clothing, hair, furniture, and cars. Not strictly smoke, THS refers to the residues left behind by smoking.
“THS can resurface into the atmosphere and can be inhaled unwillingly by non-smokers,” said Giovanna Pozuelos, the first author of the study. The researchers obtained nasal scrapes from four healthy nonsmokers who had been exposed to THS for three hours in a laboratory setting.
They found 382 genes were significantly over-expressed; seven other genes were under-expressed. They then identified pathways affected by these genes. “THS inhalation for only three hours significantly altered gene expression in the nasal epithelium of healthy nonsmokers,” said Pozuelos.
