At UVA’s Center for Immunology Research, Jie Sun has been studying laboratory mice after they recovered from pneumonia linked to COVID-19 or flu, and it turned out they were more likely to have inflammation and scarring of the lungs – conditions that put them at increased risk for lung cancer.
His team also looked at the medical records of 900,000 people who had serious cases of COVID.
“Severe cases ---we define it by people who need to be hospitalized,” he explains.
They too were far more likely to develop lung cancer.
“We found with a severe prior COVID infection there is about a 24% increase in subsequent lung cancer diagnosis.”
He says people who have suffered bad bouts of COVID or influenza may want to be monitored more carefully in future – especially if they also smoke, and he hopes science will find a way to treat those who have lung inflammation or scarring – to prevent them from developing cancer. In the meantime, he notes, vaccination does protect people from severe cases of COVID and flu.
"Vaccination not only protects from acute disease but also protects from developing chronic inflammation and lung fibrosis. Chronic inflammation and lung fibrosis are lung cancer risks," Sun says.
Findings are published in the Journal Cell.
