IMMUNE OS ATLASby AllerimSign in

tissue

Lung Immune Ecosystem

Air-exposed barrier where epithelial alarmins, macrophage tone, and type 2 circuits regulate airway reactivity

airwayallergyviral defensealarmins

Review layer

Last reviewed 2026-05-17

conceptualeducational

Systems teaching draft. Content is structured for education and graph expansion, with formal source tagging ready for the next review pass.

Appears in response traces

Pneumococcus in airway or sinus tissueEncapsulated extracellular bacterium - Mucosal airwayInhaled allergen in airway tissueAllergen / type 2 barrier trigger - Mucosal airwayViral infection in airway tissueViral / intracellular pathogen - Mucosal airwayPseudomonas in airway or damaged tissueGram-negative opportunistic bacterium - Damaged mucosal or wound tissue
Educational cutaway of an intact airway barrier with mucus, cilia, goblet cells, epithelial junctions, basement membrane, and immune cells below.
Educational illustration · not microscopy

Visual specimen

Airway epithelial barrier

The air-facing mucus and cilia layer sits above a joined epithelial sheet and a quieter immune tissue compartment.

Look for

  • Mucus above coordinated cilia
  • Goblet cells within the epithelial sheet
  • Immune sentinels below the basement membrane

Conceptual tissue cutaway, not histology. Cell proportions, density, and spacing are simplified and not to scale.

OpenAI-generated educational illustration under Atlas editorial direction · 2026-07-12

State signature

Systems profile

Inflammation86
Tolerance84
Metabolism54
Tissue88
Neuroimmune38
Chronicity48

System effects

Primary mapped axes from existing Atlas data.

Interpretive

Tissue

High 88

Organ, barrier, stromal, vascular, or local niche behavior.

mucociliary clearancesurfactantepithelial tight junctionsclub cell programs

Inflammation

High 86

Inflammatory alarm, recruitment, mediator release, or tissue-damaging amplification.

IL-33TSLPIL-4IL-13

Tolerance

High 84

Immune restraint, resolution, regulatory tone, or set-point control.

mucociliary clearancesurfactantepithelial tight junctionsclub cell programs

Tissue ecosystem

Spatial immune niche

niche

Lung

Barrier

mucociliary clearancesurfactantepithelial tight junctions

Cells

alveolar macrophagesmast cellsT cell subsetsdendritic cells

Cytokines

IL-33TSLPIL-4IL-13

Neuroimmune

vagal bronchoconstrictionsensory neuron cough and itch analogssubstance P neurogenic inflammation

Graph neighborhood

Direct relationships

Full graph
Mast Cell->migrates->Lung Immune Ecosystem

Arrow shows upstream source toward receiving target.

Airway-resident mast cells shape bronchial reactivity

Lung Immune Ecosystem->promotes->IL-4

Arrow shows upstream source toward receiving target.

Allergic airway type 2 loops

Lung Immune Ecosystem->promotes->IL-33

Arrow shows upstream source toward receiving target.

Airway epithelial injury and alarmin release

IL-13->promotes->Lung Immune Ecosystem

Arrow shows upstream source toward receiving target.

Mucus, airway reactivity, and tissue remodeling

Tissue Resident Immune Cell-associated-Lung Immune Ecosystem

Context link: no causal arrow.

Airway resident immune memory shapes recall, tolerance, and remodeling after inhaled exposures

Immune niche

Tissue Ecology

The lung balances inhaled antigen tolerance, antiviral readiness, allergic repair programs, and neutrophilic injury risk.

Dominant immune cells

alveolar macrophagesmast cellsT cell subsetsdendritic cellsneutrophils

Barrier systems

mucociliary clearancesurfactantepithelial tight junctionsclub cell programs

Microbiome interactions

low-biomass microbial exposure shaping toneviral-bacterial succession during exacerbations

Neuroimmune interactions

vagal bronchoconstrictionsensory neuron cough and itch analogssubstance P neurogenic inflammation

Cytokine environment

IL-33TSLPIL-4IL-13CXCL8

Metabolic conditions

oxygen-rich baselinehypoxia during obstructionoxidative burden from pollutants