Waterpipe smoking and women's health: From pregnancy to breast cancer

Today, smoking tobacco in waterpipes has increased in popularity worldwide; this is largely based on the belief that waterpipe smoking (WPS) is less harmful than cigarette smoking. On the other hand, it was recently pointed out that WPS can have a dramatic effect on women's health from pregnancy to breast cancer initiation and/or progression through targeting two important members of cadherin genes, cadherin-6 type 2 and E-cadherin, which are important regulators of cell migration and invasion. More significantly, it is noted that the deregulation of these two genes as well as others can occur through the Erk1/Erk2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. Herein, we discuss, for the first time, the outcome of WPS and its mechanism on the embryo, at the early stage of its development, as well as breast cancer progression.