Experimental Acute Exposure to Thirdhand Smoke and Changes in the Human Nasal Epithelial Transcriptome

Key Points Question Does acute inhalation of thirdhand smoke alter the transcriptome of the human nasal epithelium? Findings This randomized clinical trial exposed 4 healthy, nonsmoking women to clean air, which altered the expression of only 2 genes. When the same women were exposed to thirdhand smoke at least 21 days later, 389 genes associated with cell stress and survival pathways were differentially expressed, and many affected genes were associated with increased mitochondrial activity, oxidative stress, DNA repair, cell survival, and inhibition of cell death. Meaning These results suggest that acute exposure to thirdhand smoke stresses the human nasal epithelium, a finding that may be valuable to physicians treating exposed patients.