Table 2.

Summary of advantages and disadvantages of the elucidated lung models in this review.

	Continuous Cell Lines	hAEC-ALI Cultures	Lung Organoids	Lung-on-Chip	EVLP/Lung Tissue Explants
Availability	+++	++	++	+	+
Affordability	+++	++	+	+	−
Authenticity/Physiological relevance	+	+++	++	+++	+++
Handling	+++	++	++	+	+
Reproducibility	+++	++	+	+	−
Genetic manipulation	+++	+	++	+	−
Application	Virus propagation, diagnostics, high-throughput drug screenings, host–pathogen interactions	Cell tropism, disease pathology immune response, transcriptomics, cell signaling, virus–host interactions, drug testing	Cell tropism, disease pathology, transcriptomics, cell signaling, virus–host interactions, drug testing	Immune and inflammatory responses, disease pathology, virus–host interactions, cross-talk, drug testing	Drug testing, host–pathogen interactions, cellular tropism

The symbols indicate high (+++), moderate (++), mild (+) and low (−) applicability.