Cigarette Smoke, Bacteria, Mold, Microbial Toxins, and Chronic Lung Inflammation

Abstract

<jats:p>Chronic inflammation associated with cigarette smoke fosters malignant transformation and tumor cell proliferation and promotes certain nonneoplastic pulmonary diseases. The question arises as to whether chronic inflammation and/or colonization of the airway can be attributed, at least in part, to tobacco-associated microbes (bacteria, fungi, and spores) and/or microbial toxins (endotoxins and mycotoxins) in tobacco. To address this question, a literature search of documents in various databases was performed. The databases included PubMed, Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, and US Patents. This investigation documents that tobacco companies have identified and quantified bacteria, fungi, and microbial toxins at harvest, throughout fermentation, and during storage. Also characterized was the microbial flora of diverse smoking and smokeless tobacco articles. Evidence-based health concerns expressed in investigations of microbes and microbial toxins in cigarettes, cigarette smoke, and smokeless tobacco products are reasonable; they warrant review by regulatory authorities and, if necessary, additional investigation to address scientific gaps.</jats:p>

Bacterial Populations Associated with Smokeless Tobacco Products

“…Past studies were primarily focused on cigarette products and were mostly done before the 1990s (9). More-recent studies that have focused on cigarettes using modern molecular methods have reported the detection of a wide diversity of bacterial genera, including Gram-positive organisms (Bacillus, Clostridium, Enterococcus, and Staphylococcus) and Gram-negative organisms (Acinetobacter, Burkholderia, Campylobacter, Klebsiella, and Pseudomonas) (3).…”

“…Thus, there are data gaps in understanding the microorganisms present in the STPs which are potentially important to public health for the prevention of infectious diseases (9). Therefore, the goal of this study was to conduct a microbiological survey of STPs, which should help to fill scientific knowledge gaps associated with microbiological risks of currently marketed STPs that are considered important in FDA's tobacco product reviews and help to create a microbiological baseline for science-based regulation of tobacco product manufacturing and testing.…”

Le microbiome pulmonaire en 2015

“…La colonisation bactérienne est un facteur important contribuant à la progression de la BPCO [29] et à la survenue des exacerbations infectieuses [7]. De nombreuses pistes ont été décrites pour expliquer comment l'exposition tabagique détruit les défenses pulmonaires de l'hôte via la suppression de la production de peptides antimicrobiens, la destruction de la barrière épithéliale et la colonisation des voies aériennes inférieures par un certain nombre d'agents microbiologiques [25,30,31] [33]. Le microbiote est également modifié par l'antibiothérapie et la corticothérapie [24].…”

“…À l'inverse, la colonisation par des bactéries sélectionnées serait un facteur de risque accru pour l'asthme. L'impact de la colonisation bactérienne sur l'asthme et sur la survenue d'exacerbations, a été observé dans de nombreuses études avec des taux de colonisation allant de 12 à 61 % selon les résultats [43][44][45] soit (mucoviscidose, BPCO, ou asthme), la survenue d'une exacerbation sera associée à une modification du bactériote et du bactériome, voire du mycobiote et/ou du virome [8,9,11,14,31,33,34]. Cette dysbiose, largement étudiée en ce qui concerne la communauté bactérienne, moins documentée pour les micromycètes, les virus ou les phages, montre clairement son impact sur la fonction respiratoire, sur la réponse inflammatoire et immune locale, voire une association avec une réponse incomplète au traitement adapté à la pathologie pulmonaire [23].…”

Differences in the Bacteriome of Smokeless Tobacco Products with Different Oral Carcinogenicity: Compositional and Predicted Functional Analysis

“…However, literature on the microbiology of ST products is sparse. Early reports, mostly by investigators of the tobacco industry, performed identification and quantification of bacteria and fungi in fresh and processed tobacco, using cultivationbased methods [15]. Recently, 16S rRNA-based techniques including random fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and sequencing have been used to characterize bacterial communities in fresh and cured tobacco leaves as well as those associated with tobacco fermentation process [16][17][18][19][20].…”