Running Title: Perioperative influenza vaccine enhances NK cell function Perioperative influenza vaccination reduces post-operative metastatic disease by reversing surgery-induced dysfunction in natural killer cells

Running Title: Perioperative influenza vaccine enhances NK cell function Perioperative influenza vaccination reduces post-operative metastatic disease by reversing surgery-induced dysfunction in natural killer cells Lee-Hwa Tai, Jiqing Zhang, Karen J. Scott, Christiano Tanese de Souza, Almohanad A. Alkayyal, Anu Abhirami Ananth, Shalini Sahi, Robert A. Adair, Ahmad Bakur Mahmoud, Subash Sad, John C. Bell, Andrew P. Makrigiannis, Alan A. Melcher and Rebecca C. Auer Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada Departments of Cellular and Molecular Medicine; Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology; and Surgery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Shandong, China Targeted & Biological Therapies Group, Leeds Institute of Cancer Studies and Pathology, Leeds, UK Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia Corresponding Author: Dr Rebecca Auer, Ottawa General Hospital, 1617 CCW, Box#134, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H8L6 Canada, phone: 613-737-8899x79551, fax: 613-739-6646, [email protected] Financial support: CCSRI Innovation Grant, ON Ministry of Research and Innovation ERA (RA), FRSQ (LT) Conflict of interest disclosure: The authors have no onflicts of interest to disclose Total word count: 5000 Total number of figures: 6