Findings from a new study revealed that e-cigarette vapor is responsible for the development of inflammatory mediators in the lungs and also for the hampering of chief disease-fighting cells.

Researchers noticed in laboratory tests that vapor from e-cigarettes hampers the function of macrophages. Moreover, when cultured cells were in contact with e-cigarette vapor, similar modifications, like those in cigarette smokers and COPD patients, were observed in macrophages of the lungs.

Senior study author Dr. David Thickett of the University of Birmingham in the UK, mentioned in a statement, E-cigarettes “are safer in terms of cancer risk, but if you vape for 20 or 30 years and this can cause COPD, then that’s something we need to know about,”

Thickett, along with his teammates, set out to explore the effects of vaping. Tissue samples from the lungs of eight individuals who neither smoked, nor had a history of asthma or COPD were taken and macrophages were picked from them. E-cigarette fluid was tested on one-third of the cells, vaping liquid was tested on another third and the last third was tested with no agent. 24 hours post the test started, the destruction of cells was observed in the sections in contact with the fluid and vapor. However, the rate at which vaping liquid caused damage was slow.

It was also observed that when below-fatal doses were tested on macrophages, the production of free radicals of oxygen by the cells multiplied 50 times, contrasted with cells that weren’t tested. A number of molecules stimulating inflammation were also released by the cells. The experiment concluded that the lungs of e-cigarette users are not adept at combating infections.