Immunopathology of lung diseases: introduction for the special issue

Excerpt

This issue of Seminars in Immunopathology focuses on lung innate immunity and the recently identified mechanisms contributing to this unique environment. It was in the 1980s that T-cell subsets were first described by the cytokines that induced them and the cytokines they then produced [1, 2]. This segregation allowed more flexibility in the immune system, fine-tuning responses to eliminate very different antigens or pathogens. Sub-division to define optimal function, however, has now expanded to natural killer (NK) cells, innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages. Though polarising conditions in vitro provide clarity in our understanding of influencing forces, they do not tell us how this occurs in vivo, how it is regulated, or whether it contributes to common pathological conditions. …