Abstract
During the last several years, the interest in the role of microbiota in human health has grown significantly. For many years, the lung was considered a sterile environment, and only recently, with the use of more sophisticated techniques, has it been demonstrated that colonization by a complex population of microorganisms in lower airways also occurs in healthy subjects; a predominance of some species of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes phyla and with a peculiar composition in some disease conditions, such as asthma, have been noted. Lung microbiota derives mainly from the higher airways microbiota. Although we have some information about the role of gut microbiota in modulation of immune system, less it is known about the connection between lung microbiota and local and systemic immunity. There is a correlation between altered microbiota composition and some diseases or chronic states; however, despite this correlation, it has not been clearly demonstrated whether the lung microbiota dysbiosis could be a consequence or a cause of these diseases. We are far from a scientific approach to the therapeutic use of probiotics in airway diseases, but we are only at the starting point of a knowledge process in this fascinating field that could reveal important surprises, and randomized prospective studies in future could reveal more about the clinical possibilities for controlling lung microbiota. This review was aimed at updating the current knowledge in the field of airway microbiota.
Highlights
The “microbiota” consists of different species of microorganisms that live in a defined environment
We searched for articles in English using the following key words: [1] airway microbiota; [2] lung microbiota; [3] asthma and microbiota; [4] infections and microbiota; [5] microbiota and immunity; and [6] probiotics in airway diseases
A strong relationship exists between the lung and intestinal microbiota, the environment, and the effects of early life exposure to non-pathogenic microbes of the natural environment, which are important for immune system development
Summary
The “microbiota” consists of different species of microorganisms that live in a defined environment. Microbiota are present in organs that are in contact with the outside environment, mainly the gut, but we know that microbiota is present in lung. Microbiota differs among various individuals and varies according to pathological events or the person’s health state, and it can modulate immune responses. The first contact with bacteria seems to happen prenatally (in utero) via a microbial transfer at the fetomaternal interface at which point microbial DNA has been discovered [3]. Fetal colonization occurs through vertical transfer in the placenta of non-pathogenic commensal microbiota from the phyla Firmicutes, Tenericutes, Lung Microbiota
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