01771nas a2200241   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002260001500043653001300058653001500071653001300086653001400099653001000113100002100123700002000144700002300164245004000187856004600227300001200273490000800285520122200293022001401515       2017                            d  c2017-03-0110abacteria10aHuman lung10aImmunity10aPneumonia10avirus1 aAndreas C. Hocke1 aNorbert Suttorp1 aStefan Hippenstiel00aHuman lung ex vivo infection models  uhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-016-2546-z  a511-5240 v3673 aPneumonia is counted among the leading causes of death worldwide. Viruses, bacteria and pathogen-related molecules interact with cells present in the human alveolus by numerous, yet poorly understood ways. Traditional cell culture models little reflect the cellular composition, matrix complexity and three-dimensional architecture of the human lung. Integrative animal models suffer from species differences, which are of particular importance for the investigation of zoonotic lung diseases. The use of cultured ex vivo infected human lung tissue may overcome some of these limitations and complement traditional models. The present review gives an overview of common bacterial lung infections, such as pneumococcal infection and of widely neglected pathogens modeled in ex vivo infected lung tissue. The role of ex vivo infected lung tissue for the investigation of emerging viral zoonosis including influenza A virus and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus is discussed. Finally, further directions for the elaboration of such models are revealed. Overall, the introduced models represent meaningful and robust methods to investigate principles of pathogen-host interaction in original human lung tissue.  a1432-0878