Sensory modulation of airways immunity

•The airways are densely innervated by sensory innervation which, together with a variety of immune cells, represents a first line of tissue defense.•Sensory innervation modulates lung immunity in health and disease including asthma and infections.•Airwaty neuroimmune interactions are regulated by neuronal mediators and affect both myeloid and innate lymphoid cells. The airways are constantly exposed to a multitude of inhaled particles and, as such, require a finely tuned discrimination between harmful or potentially threatening stimuli, and discrete responses to maintain homeostasis. Both the immune and nervous systems have the ability to sense environmental (and internal) signals, to integrate the obtained information and to initiate a protective reaction. Lung immunity and innervation are known to be individually involved in these processes, but it is becoming clear that they can also influence one another via a multitude of complex mechanisms. Here, we specifically describe how sensory innervation affects airways immunity with a focus on pathological conditions such as asthma or infections, describing cellular and molecular mechanisms, and highlighting potentially novel therapeutic targets.