The lung microbiome in 2015: a window on chronic lung diseases

Recent development of high-throughput sequencing methods has shown that the human respiratory tract (including lower airways) is not sterile as formerly thought, but composed of a previously unappreciated complex microbial community referred as the lung microbiome and composed of bacteria, viruses and fungi. However, many questions remain unresolved, especially in terms of lung microbiome role, its interactions with host but also with environmental pathogens. Although data are still limited, links have already been demonstrated between lung microbiome and chronic respiratory diseases (such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cystic fibrosis). This lung microbiome appears to play an important role both in disease genesis and evolution, and consequently offers an emerging research field.