George Kumar, Senior Director at AstraZeneca, shared on LinkedIn about a paper by Shi B. Chia et al. published in Nature:
“Respiratory viruses can awaken dormant breast cancer cells
A new Nature study shows that infections such as influenza or SARS-CoV-2 may ‘wake up’ dormant breast cancer cells in the lungs of mice, triggering rapid metastatic growth.
Key insights:
- In mouse models, viral infection led to dormant cells re-entering the cell cycle within 2 weeks, forming lung metastases.
- The mechanism is driven by IL-6–mediated inflammation and immune reprogramming (CD4⁺ T cells suppressing CD8⁺ T cells).
- Data from the UK Biobank and Flatiron Health confirm higher risk of cancer-related death and lung metastases in patients with prior COVID-19 infection.
Implications:
- Protecting cancer survivors from viral infections (vaccination, early treatment) is critical.
- Monitoring patients closely post-infection may allow earlier detection of recurrence.
- Opens the door to testing IL-6 inhibitors and immune modulation strategies in clinical trials.
This is a striking reminder of the immune-cancer-infection nexus and the importance of integrating oncology with infectious disease vigilance.
Figure Courtesy: Nature: Max Kozlow.”
Title: Respiratory viral infections awaken metastatic breast cancer cells in lungs
Authors: Shi B. Chia, Bryan J. Johnson, Junxiao Hu, Felipe Valença-Pereira, Marc Chadeau-Hyam, Fernando Guntoro, Hugh Montgomery, Meher P. Boorgula, Varsha Sreekanth, Andrew Goodspeed, Bennett Davenport, Marco De Dominici, Vadym Zaberezhnyy, Wolfgang E. Schleicher, Dexiang Gao, Andreia N. Cadar, Lucia Petriz-Otaño, Michael Papanicolaou, Afshin Beheshti, Stephen B. Baylin, Joseph W. Guarnieri, Douglas C. Wallace, James C. Costello, Jenna M. Bartley, Thomas E. Morrison, Roel Vermeulen, Julio A. Aguirre-Ghiso, Mercedes Rincon, James DeGregori
You can read the Full Article on Nature.
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