Lung Microbiota: Its Relationship to Respiratory System Diseases and Approaches for Lung-Targeted Probiotic Bacteria Delivery

Abstract

Microorganisms that make up the local microbiota (such as Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium sp.) play a crucial role in the modulation of diseases and health states by taking place not only in the gut but also in many parts of our body. There is also interference between the gut and the lung via the gut-lung axis. The relationship between respiratory diseases and lung microbiota, which become more of an issue of particular importance in recent years, shows that probiotics play an essential role in maintaining the balance of microorganisms in the respiratory tract. However, studies on probiotics’ prophylactic or therapeutic application in chronic lung diseases are limited. In this review, the literature between 1977 and 2022 was surveyed. General information about human microbiota was accessed in earlier sources, and especially in the past decade, research on lung microbiota has been reached. The relationship between lung microbiota and important respiratory diseases such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, cystic fibrosis, allergy-asthma, influenza, lung cancer, and COVID-19 infection, was scrutinized after mentioning human microbiota, the gut-lung axis, and respiratory tract microbiota. The mechanism of action of probiotics and the formulation approaches of probiotics in terms of pharmaceutical technology were reviewed. Finally, future perspectives on lung-targeted administration of probiotic bacteria with prophylactic or therapeutic potential, or both, were presented.