Toxicology letters
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"Heat-not-burn" tobacco products are designed to heat processed tobacco instead of combusting it, thus significantly reducing the formation of harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) found in cigarette smoke, and ultimately reducing the risk of smoking-related diseases. The Carbon-Heated Tobacco Product (CHTP), a heat-not-burn tobacco product similar in appearance and use ritual to cigarettes, has been developed for smokers who would otherwise continue smoking as an alternative to cigarettes. To evaluate reduced risk of harm potential of CHTP, it is critical to quantify exposure to HPHCs and consequent biological pathway disturbances involved in disease onset in smokers who switch to CHTP. ⋯ Switching from cigarettes to CHTP resulted in significantly reduced exposure to HPHCs and was associated with observed improvements in some biomarkers of effect representative of pathomechanistic pathways underlying the development of smoking-related diseases.