Tuberculosis and cigarette smoke exposure: An update of in vitro and in vivo studies

ABSTRACT

Tuberculosis (TB) has been declared the first cause of death by an infectious agent. Annually, 10.4 million people suffer active TB. Most infected individuals live in low-income countries, where social and economic conditions enhance the dissemination and progression of the disease. These countries have a high percentage of smokers. Thousands of studies have linked cigarette smoke (CS) with increased risk of many diseases, such as cancer and lung diseases. Numerous in vitro studies have been conducted to evaluate the general and specific toxic effects of CS in lung immune function. Smoke exposure increases the risk of TB development three-fold. However, until now, only few animal studies have been performed to analyze the association between smoke and TB. In the present work, we review in vitro and in vivo studies whose aim was to analyze the molecular basis of TB susceptibility caused by exposure to CS.

KEYWORDS:

• cigarette
• tuberculosis
• smoke
• exposure
• susceptibility
• tobacco

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Lic. Carla Ferret for her contribution in picture construction. We also like to thank to CONACyT, Mexico, Project No. 269795 INFRA 2016.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.