What Plants Can Teach Us About Lung Health: A Cross-Kingdom Look at Trained Immunity
May the future of lung health be rooted, quite literally, in botany? The scientists Christian Lindermayr and Önder Yildirim (LHI, Helmholtz Munich and DZL, German Center for Lung Research) are drawing surprising parallels between the immune systems of plants and humans.
Published in ScienceDirect (Journal “Redox Biology”), their review explores a remarkable biological connection: both plants and animals have evolved complex systems of innate immunity - a first line of defense against microbial and other threats. While humans also possess adaptive immunity (think: antibodies and vaccines), plants rely entirely on their innate mechanisms.
“Plants have no adaptive immune system, yet they’ve developed elegant ways to remember past attacks and respond faster next time,” says Lindermayr. “Better understanding these mechanisms, we might help us to find sustainable and targeted approaches to treating human diseases, starting with the lungs.”
A key part of this shared defense is redox signaling. Molecules like nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are more than just cellular stressors - they act as sophisticated messengers. In both plants and human lungs, they activate key proteins that mount defenses and even prime the immune system for future threats.
Lindermayr and Yildirim emphasize the lungs as a critical battleground: constantly exposed to environmental pollutants, pathogens, and allergens, they rely heavily on innate immunity. The researchers propose that, by learning how plants use redox-regulated "priming" to prepare for future stress, we might develop innovative strategies to bolster lung immunity in humans - potentially even leading to precision immunotherapies for asthma, COPD, and other chronic lung conditions.
Their review also suggests that small molecules designed to selectively target redox-sensitive processes are already showing promise in preclinical studies. Such compounds could be used to either boost trained immunity—the immune system’s ability to “remember” and respond—or suppress it when excessive immune activation leads to disease.
Plants might teach us how this trained immunity can function without antibodies. A visionary glimpse into a sustainable, precise medicine of the future, guided by nature.
Read here the full article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213231725002150