A new MIT study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in June of 2012 showed that chronic viral and bacterial infections account for 16% of cancers of the liver, colon, and stomach. When the body's immune system detects pathogens it activates macrophages and neutrophils to engulf and kill them with hypochlorous acid. When the infection is chronic some of this hypochlorous acid leaks into the rest of the cell and sets the stage for DNA damage that can lead to cancer.
