CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- A new study from the UVA Health’s Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research and UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center shows that respiratory infections can also increase the risk of cancer in the body.
Jie Sun, PhD, along with a group of researchers from the UVA School of Medicine released research details a “reprogramming” of immune cells located within inflamed lungs due to COVID-19 and influenza, among other diseases, that allows for easier development of tumors in the lungs.
Both laboratory mice and data from human patients backed up Sun’s hypothesis. Those hospitalized with COVID-19 were 1.24 times more likely to develop lung cancer…