Respiratory Viruses Wake Up Dormant Cancer Cells
Cancer remission, in which tumor cells enter a dormant state and a patient’s symptoms subside, can persist for years or decades.1 Both the cancer cells themselves and the tumor microenvironment maintain this period of inactivity.2 While inflammation has been shown to disrupt this microenvironment, leading to metastasis, the mechanisms of this process remain unclear.
Julio Aguirre-Ghiso studies dormant disseminated cancer cells and their role in cancer reactivation.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Seeing a trend in increased cancer deaths in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer biologist Julio Aguirre-Ghiso at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine suspected that viral infections could be activating dormant cancer cells. In partnership with researchers at the University of Colorado and Utrecht University, the teams showed that inflammation from viral infections activated dormant cancer cells and increased metastasis.3 The findings, published in Nature, provide important insights into cancer remission for clinicians. Read more https://www.the-scientist.com/respiratory-viruses-wake-up-dormant-cancer-cells-73217?fbclid=IwY2xjawNiP3NleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHi0hKNl2m4X9Mss-TFuR5GTnO1wyCjs-I84yQZ3a9366Nhtqc2Xb4OrFPIu2_aem_HPeEbMjzRkUgrWYIyhmPOA
