Nicotine associates to intracellular inducing genes related with resistance to antimicrobial peptides.

Tobacco consumption is related to an increased risk to develop tuberculosis. Antimicrobial peptides are essential molecules in the response to () because of their direct antimicrobial activity. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that nicotine enters into infected epithelial cells and associates with the mycobacteria inducing genes related to antimicrobial peptides resistance. Epithelial cells were infected with virulent , afterwards cells were stimulated with nicotine. The internalization of nicotine was followed using electron and confocal microscopy. The expression was evaluated isolating mycobacterial RNA and submitted to RT-PCR analysis. Our results indicated that nicotine promotes growth in a dose-dependent manner in infected cells. We also reported that nicotine induces expression. In conclusion, nicotine associates to intracellular mycobacteria promoting intracellular survival.