Mycobacterium Tubercular Mediated Inflammation and Lung Carcinogenesis: Connecting Links

Abstract

Lung cancer is a leading cause of death among all the cancer worldwide and it has the highest occurrence and mortality rates. <em>Mycobacterium</em> <em>tuberculosis</em> (MTB) induced tuberculosis has been known as one of the risk factors for lung carcinogenesis. The exact mechanism of MTB is understood to date. Several research and epidemiological studies about the link between tuberculosis and lung cancer exist. It has been proposed that tuberculosis causes chronic inflammation, which increases the risk of lung cancer by creating a favorable environment. EGFR downstream signaling promotes constitutive activation of TKIs domain due to the mutation in exon 19 and exon 21 (L858R point mutation), which leads to cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis, causing lung adenocarcinoma. Several other studies have shown that human monocyte cells infected by MTB enhance the invasion and cause induction of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) characteristics in lung cancer cell co-culture. This review article has tried to draw a relationship between chronic tuberculosis and lung carcinogenesis.