Summary
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer globally, with most deaths caused by metastatic disease, often following long periods of clinical dormancy<sup>1</sup>. Understanding the mechanisms that disrupt the quiescence of dormant disseminated cancer cells (DCCs) is crucial for addressing metastatic progression. Infections caused by respiratory viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 trigger both local and systemic inflammation<sup>2,3</sup>. Here we demonstrate, in mice, that influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infections lead to loss of the pro-dormancy phenotype in breast DCCs in the lung, causing DCC proliferation within days of infection and a massive expansion of carcinoma cells into metastatic lesions within two weeks. These phenotypic transitions and expansions are interleukin-6 dependen
Dig deeper with Pulse AI.
Pulse AI has read the whole catalogue. Ask about this record, its theme, or how the findings apply to UK farming and policy — every answer cites the underlying studies.