# Immune evasion of multidrug-resistant bacteria: insights from lung innate immune cells and targeted therapies

**Authors:** Yingfei Xu, Yongheng Gao, Yujuan Li, Lei Pan

PMC · DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2026.1790950 · 2026-03-17

## TL;DR

This review explores how multidrug-resistant bacteria evade lung immune cells and discusses new therapies targeting these immune evasion strategies to treat pneumonia.

## Contribution

The paper systematically categorizes immune evasion mechanisms of multidrug-resistant bacteria across four core pathways.

## Key findings

- Multidrug-resistant bacteria use multiple strategies to evade lung innate immune cells.
- Targeted therapies based on innate immunity offer novel treatment approaches for resistant bacterial infections.
- The review provides insights into immune evasion mechanisms and recent advances in anti-infective therapies.

## Abstract

Pneumonia is a common acute infectious disease affecting the lower respiratory tract. Innate immune cells within the lungs play a crucial role in the onset and progression of pneumonia. Various multidrug-resistant bacteria have evolved multiple strategies to evade innate immunity, posing significant challenges to the treatment of pneumonia. This review primarily explores the major innate immune cells in the lungs and their functions, the immune evasion mechanisms of common multidrug-resistant bacteria, and the latest research advances in targeted innate immunity-based anti-infective therapies. This review synthesizes recent advances in the interaction between the innate immune system of the lungs and multidrug-resistant bacteria. It systematically categorizes and compares the immune evasion mechanisms of multidrug-resistant bacteria across four core pathways. This aims to provide novel insights for treating pulmonary infections caused by these multidrug-resistant pathogens.

## Linked entities

- **Diseases:** pneumonia (MONDO:0005249)

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** infectious disease (MESH:D003141), pulmonary infections (MESH:D012141), Pneumonia (MESH:D011014)
- **Species:** Bacteria Latreille et al. 1825 (Bacteria stick insect, genus) [taxon 629395]

## Figures

1 figure with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC13036122/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC13036122