Abstract
Nonmycobacterial (NTM) lung infections are emerging as global health threats; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying host-microbial interactions are poorly understood compared to tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. NTM-host interactions are complex and dynamic processes between the mycobacterial components and host factors, influencing the infection outcomes. While NTM evolves numerous strategies to establish the infection and evade from host’s defense system, the host cells encounter the pathogenic stresses through a range of typical (immune) and non-typical components to induce defensive pathways that limit or eradicate intracellular pathogenic replications. Here, a special issue of articles discusses how NTM bacteria modulate the host defense system, in which immune and nonimmune components are functionally involved in the antimicrobial responses, and how different host cell types participate in the protective responses against NTM infections. In doing so, we outline several weapons harboring the therapeutic potential in a tug-of-war at the interface of host and NTM bacteria. A more detailed understanding of underlying NTM-host crosstalks will provide new alternative therapeutic and preventive strategies for NTM infections, which are often refractory to the conventional antibiotic-based regiments (1).