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Review
. 2023 Jan 17:13:1094110.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1094110. eCollection 2022.

The lung, the niche, and the microbe: Exploring the lung microbiome in cancer and immunity

Mai Huynh  1 , Meredith J Crane  1 , Amanda M Jamieson  1
Affiliations
Review

The lung, the niche, and the microbe: Exploring the lung microbiome in cancer and immunity

Mai Huynh et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

The lung is a complex and unique organ system whose biology is strongly influenced by environmental exposure, oxygen abundance, connection to extrapulmonary systems via a dense capillary network, and an array of immune cells that reside in the tissue at steady state. The lung also harbors a low biomass community of commensal microorganisms that are dynamic during both health and disease with the capacity to modulate regulatory immune responses during diseases such as cancer. Lung cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide with the highest mortality rate amongst cancers due to the difficulty of an early diagnosis. This review discusses the current body of work addressing the interactions between the lung microbiota and the immune system, and how these two components of the pulmonary system are linked to lung cancer development and outcomes. Bringing in lessons from broader studies examining the effects of the gut microbiota on cancer outcomes, we highlight many challenges and gaps in this nascent field.

Keywords: cancer therapy; lung cancer; lung microbiome; lung microbiota; pulmonary immunity; tumor immunity; tumor micreoenvironment (TME).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Crosstalk among the lung microbiota, pulmonary immune system, and the lung cancer microenvironment is complex. Communication mediated by metabolites, microbial associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), inflammatory mediators, growth factors, and nutrient availability drives changes to Microbial diversity, inflammation, and potentially cancer development and progression. The balance of these interactions is further complicated by cancer treatments including immunotherapy, radiation, and chemotherapy. This figure was created with Biorender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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