Replica (Replication Studies)

Replica is the name of the first time the most notorious studies on reduced-risk products using standard conditions that reflect the actual conditions of use.

Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for various aspects of health, related to cardiovascular, respiratory and lung cancer pathologies. Recently, the use of new generation smokeless products (NGP) appears to have significantly reduced the risks for smokers compared to smoking traditional cigarettes. In vitro preclinical biological tests are able to generate data for the evaluation of the risk reduction potential of NGPs, without resorting to investigations and tests on animals, using medium and high yield in vitro cellular screening technologies, based on exposure of cell cultures to aerosols/smoke through the use of automated platforms for multi-parametric screening, to monitor changes in biomarkers or proteins associated with biological activity that could indicate potential toxic effects.

Through the conduct of the “Replication studies” in the laboratories of Catania and the international partners, the CoEHAR aims to replicate and confirm the most relevant published research regarding in vitro studies on cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, genotoxicity and mutagenicity, and inflammation induced by the exposure of human cells to the aerosol of electronic cigarettes and THP aerosol, with re-spect to the effects of the smoke of traditional cigarettes, in order to give an independent validation of the results obtained by the tobacco companies about the potential health effects of human exposure to the use of electronic cigarettes and THP.