Work

The role of the bacterial microbiome in lung disease

Year: 2013

Type: review

Abstract: Novel culture-independent techniques have recently demonstrated that the lower respiratory tract, historically considered sterile in health, contains diverse communities of microbes: the lung microbiome. Increasing evidence supports the concept that a distinct microbiota of the lower respiratory tract is present both in health and in various respiratory diseases, although the biological and clinical significance of these findings remains undetermined. In this article, the authors review and synthesize published reports of the lung microbiota of healthy and diseased subjects, discuss trends of microbial diversity and constitution across disease states, and look to the extrapulmonary microbiome for hypotheses and future directions for study.

Source: Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine

DOI: 10.1586/ers.13.24

Authors: Robert P Dickson, John R Erb-Downward, Gary B Huffnagle

Institutions: University of Michigan, Michigan Medicine

Language: English

Topic: Gut microbiota and health

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases