The nose plays more roles than merely allowing us to smell and shaping our facial profiles. It also acts as a gatekeeper for the respiratory tract, capable of preventing bacteria and other pathogens from leaving the nasal passage and taking up residence in the lungs. Similar to the microbiome in the gastrointestinal tract and the skin, the precious balance between beneficial bacterial, fungal, and viral colonies in the nose can be disrupted.
This imbalance, termed dysbiosis, can lead to an overgrowth of harmful bacteria and can predispose people to respiratory diseases , such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Elise Hickman, Ph.D.
, a former student in the lab of inhalation toxicologist Ilona Jaspers, Ph.D., director of the UNC Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma, and Lung Biology at the UNC School of Medicine, discovered that e-cigarette and cigarette use can cause an imbalance in the nasal microbiome.
Their study, published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research , could be important in understanding the immunological implications of vaping and smoking. "We found that the composition of the nasal microbiome varies depending on sex, e-cigarette versus cigarette use, and how much of a nicotine biomarker is found in the blood," said Hickman, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health. "Our findings warrant further investigation into why and how e-cigarette use dysr.