tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Cell
. 2026 Mar 11:S0092-8674(26)00220-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.02.013. Online ahead of print.
Respiratory viral infections prime accelerated lung cancer growth
Wei Qian[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Xiaoqin Wei[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Andrew J Barros[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Xiangyu Ye[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Haibo Zhang[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Qing Yu[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Samuel P Young[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Eric V Yeatts[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Yury Park[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Chaofan Li[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sijie Hao[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Gislane Almeida-Santos[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jinyi Tang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Harish Narasimhan[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Nicole A Kirk[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Valeria Molinary[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Ying Li[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Li Li[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Bimal N Desai[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Peter Chen[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Kwon-Sik Park[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Anny Xiaobo Zhou[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Jeffrey M Sturek[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Wei Chen[SUP] 13 [/SUP], In Su Cheon[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jie Sun[SUP] 14 [/SUP]
Affiliations
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the long-term consequences of viral pneumonia, yet its impact on cancer development remains unclear. Here, we show that patients previously hospitalized with severe COVID-19 have an increased risk of subsequent lung cancer. Across multiple murine models, severe respiratory viral infections accelerated lung cancer growth, whereas vaccination mitigated infection-enhanced tumor progression. Mechanistically, prior viral pneumonia reprogrammed the lung into a pro-tumor microenvironment marked by the sustained accumulation of tumor-associated neutrophils and heightened immunosuppression. We observed persistent chromatin remodeling at key cytokine loci in immune and structural cells, linking inflammatory memory to tumor-promoting signals. Therapeutically, combined blockade of neutrophil recruitment and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) restored CD8[SUP]+[/SUP] T cell function and suppressed tumor growth. Together, these findings establish a causal link between prior viral pneumonia and lung tumorigenesis, underscoring the need for enhanced surveillance and targeted interventions to reduce post-COVID cancer risk.
Keywords: COVID-19; epigenetic imprinting; influenza; lung cancer; respiratory viral infection; tumor-associated neutrophils.
. 2026 Mar 11:S0092-8674(26)00220-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.02.013. Online ahead of print.
Respiratory viral infections prime accelerated lung cancer growth
Wei Qian[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Xiaoqin Wei[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Andrew J Barros[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Xiangyu Ye[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Haibo Zhang[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Qing Yu[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Samuel P Young[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Eric V Yeatts[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Yury Park[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Chaofan Li[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sijie Hao[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Gislane Almeida-Santos[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jinyi Tang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Harish Narasimhan[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Nicole A Kirk[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Valeria Molinary[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Ying Li[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Li Li[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Bimal N Desai[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Peter Chen[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Kwon-Sik Park[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Anny Xiaobo Zhou[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Jeffrey M Sturek[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Wei Chen[SUP] 13 [/SUP], In Su Cheon[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jie Sun[SUP] 14 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 41819102
- DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.02.013
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the long-term consequences of viral pneumonia, yet its impact on cancer development remains unclear. Here, we show that patients previously hospitalized with severe COVID-19 have an increased risk of subsequent lung cancer. Across multiple murine models, severe respiratory viral infections accelerated lung cancer growth, whereas vaccination mitigated infection-enhanced tumor progression. Mechanistically, prior viral pneumonia reprogrammed the lung into a pro-tumor microenvironment marked by the sustained accumulation of tumor-associated neutrophils and heightened immunosuppression. We observed persistent chromatin remodeling at key cytokine loci in immune and structural cells, linking inflammatory memory to tumor-promoting signals. Therapeutically, combined blockade of neutrophil recruitment and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) restored CD8[SUP]+[/SUP] T cell function and suppressed tumor growth. Together, these findings establish a causal link between prior viral pneumonia and lung tumorigenesis, underscoring the need for enhanced surveillance and targeted interventions to reduce post-COVID cancer risk.
Keywords: COVID-19; epigenetic imprinting; influenza; lung cancer; respiratory viral infection; tumor-associated neutrophils.