Does acute inflammation triggered by infection promote cancer progression?

Chronic infections are associated with cancer incidence and progression in human epidemiological data, but less is known about how such infections might promote cancer progression. Recent data implicate acute infection with common respiratory viruses, such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, in cancer progression, providing evidence that infection-driven inflammation can promote tumor expansion and dissemination in experimental systems. The resulting acute inflammatory cascade and dynamic immune cell reprogramming can rapidly remodel the tissue microenvironment to favor cancer cell survival, growth, and evasion of immune elimination. However, acute infections can also elicit anti-tumor immune responses. Defining how infections differentially skew immune programs to promote or restrain cancer progression will therefore be essential for developing future strategies to target this disease.