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Viral infections could protect against the spread of cancer, an early stage study suggests.
Researchers from Imperial College London have found that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the common cause of coughs and colds, offered a protective effect from breast cancer metastasising.
Dr Ilaria Malanchi, cancer biologist at the Francis Crick Institute, said: ‘This is a big problem for breast cancer, which becomes much harder to treat if it spreads.
‘We’re interested in how cancer cells signal to new tissues, such as in the lungs, to make the environment more supportive for the growth of a tumour.’
The lungs are one of the most common areas for breast cancer to spread, or metastasise, and the experts believe prior infection helps to prime the lungs to reduce the risk of this happening.
Previous research indicates that 60 per cent of stage 4 breast cancer patients get the tumour in their lungs, and the five-year survival rate is just 30 per cent.
In a study published in the journal PNAS, scientists found that mice given an RSV infection had a heightened immune system – specifically in the lungs.
‘To mimic the spread of cancer into the lungs, we introduced breast cancer cells into mice that had recently experienced RSV infection,’ said Dr Malanchi.
Respiratory syncytial virus, the common cause of coughs and colds, offered a protective effect from breast cancer metastasising, researchers have discovered (stock photo)
The study was conducted by researchers at Imperial College London (pictured)
‘Fascinatingly, they developed fewer lung tumours than mice that hadn’t previously experienced RSV infection.’
The researchers claim that this could be a key breakthrough in understanding how cancer spreads and may pave the way for new treatments to prevent the spread of the disease.
Experts stress the infection itself will not be used as a treatment.
Professor Cecilia Johansson, from ICL’s National Heart and Lung Institute, said: ‘If we can find a way of making lungs more resistant to successful seeding of metastatic cancer cells, that’s encouraging.
‘We hope a drug could be developed to mimic the effects we have observed.
‘Studies in humans will now be important to confirm whether this effect is seen in people and how we could exploit this knowledge.’
