What COVID is teaching doctors about the relationship between viruses and cancer
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In early 2022, around the time the Omicron variant started driving a new surge in COVID-19 cases, researchers at James DeGregori’s University of Colorado Anschutz lab noticed something unusual: When lab mice with dormant breast cancer cells were infected with either influenza or SARS-CoV-2, the animals were significantly more likely to develop aggressive lung tumors.What’s true for a mouse isn’t always true for a human.But when the team examined healthcare databases, they were surprised to find that something similar appeared to be going on in the human population.Analysis of records from the U.K.
Biobank showed that cancer survivors who contracted COVID in 2020 — when the virus was new and no vaccine was available — were significantly more likely to die of recurring cancer than patients who didn’t get the virus, particularly within the year after their COVID infection.Analysis of a separate U.S.
breast cancer database found that breast cancer patients in remission who got COVID were significantly more likely to develop metastatic lung tumors than patients who did not contract the virus.The University of Colorado researchers couldn’t analyze influenza’s effects as thoroughly — most flu infections don’t make it into medical charts, as patients often ride out routine cases at home.
They also weren’t able to take into account whether the severity of a patient’s COVID infection influenced the likelihood of a cancer recurrence.But COVID’s novelty gave the team the data it needed to track the effects of viral inflammation on cancer recurrence.
Their results were published last year in the journal Nature.Science & Medicine A massive renovation will highlight new science in an L.A.
institution“When [cancer] comes back, it comes back with a fury,” DeGregori said.“We think that these virus infections can be almost like fuel for the fire.”Unwelcome ...