Does acute inflammation triggered by infection promote cancer progression?
- 1Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States of America
- 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States of America
Abstract
Chronic infections are associated with cancer incidence and progression in human epidemiological data, but less is known about how such infections might promote cancer progression. Recent data implicate acute infection with common respiratory viruses, such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, in cancer progression, providing evidence that infection-driven inflammation can promote tumor expansion and dissemination in experimental systems. The resulting acute inflammatory cascade and dynamic immune cell reprogramming can rapidly remodel the tissue microenvironment to favor cancer cell survival, growth, and evasion of immune elimination. However, acute infections can also elicit anti-tumor immune responses. Defining how infections differentially skew immune programs to promote or restrain cancer progression will therefore be essential for developing future strategies to target this disease.
Acute infections have been recently linked to cancer progression in experimental systems, which is supported by epidemiological human data, but they can also elicit anti-tumor immune responses. This Unsolved Mystery highlights our gaps in understanding how infections differentially skew immune programs to promote or restrain cancer progression; addressing these gaps will provide new avenues for prevention and therapy.
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BibTeX
@article{valencapereira2026does,
title = {{Does acute inflammation triggered by infection promote cancer progression?}},
author = {Felipe Valença-Pereira and Bryan Johnson and James DeGregori and Mercedes Rincon},
journal = {PLOS Biology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3003962},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003962},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Does acute inflammation triggered by infection promote cancer progression?
AU - Felipe Valença-Pereira
AU - Bryan Johnson
AU - James DeGregori
AU - Mercedes Rincon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
JO - PLOS Biology
DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003962
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003962
AB - Chronic infections are associated with cancer incidence and progression in human epidemiological data, but less is known about how such infections might promote cancer progression. Recent data implicate acute infection with common respiratory viruses, such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, in cancer progression, providing evidence that infection-driven inflammation can promote tumor expansion and dissemination in experimental systems. The resulting acute inflammatory cascade and dynamic immune cell reprogramming can rapidly remodel the tissue microenvironment to favor cancer cell survival, growth, and evasion of immune elimination. However, acute infections can also elicit anti-tumor immune responses. Defining how infections differentially skew immune programs to promote or restrain cancer progression will therefore be essential for developing future strategies to target this disease. Acute infections have been recently linked to cancer progression in experimental systems, which is supported by epidemiological human data, but they can also elicit anti-tumor immune responses. This Unsolved Mystery highlights our gaps in understanding how infections differentially skew immune programs to promote or restrain cancer progression; addressing these gaps will provide new avenues for prevention and therapy.
SN - 1545-7885
ER -