Cancer cells are more active during the stages of human sleep, as a result of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH). A case of 30 women with breast cancer was reviewed for the study, which was published in the journal “Nature”. In addition, studies were conducted on mice to support the study. According to the researchers, although the study was relatively small, its findings contributed to findings that could certainly have an impact on breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Metastases: the greatest risk for cancer
Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer, affecting about two million and 300 thousand people annually in the world, according to data from the World Health Organization. The chances of recovery for breast cancer patients increase if the disease is detected early. However, patients who are diagnosed with the disease are more likely to develop secondary cancers, meaning the cancerous tumor moves from one organ to another, in a phenomenon called metastasis.
More than just a coincidence?
By the nature of the team’s work in day and night patrols at the Molecular Biology Laboratory (ITH), they found that the number of cancer cells circulating in the blood was much higher at night than during the day. There is a practical error, says Nadia Harbeck, head of the Breast Center and Oncology Clinic at the Women’s Clinic at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich: “This is a very interesting basic work that deserves further research,” and adds Harbeck: “If it is confirmed that some cancer cells form Primarily at night while sleeping, this will be difficult at first in terms of treatment in everyday clinical practice.” Because patients do not come for treatment and blood tests at night, but during the day.
The movement of cancer cells through the blood increases their division and thus the risk of disease
Does time really matter?
Swiss researchers note that more cancer cells break away from the actual tumor at night and move through the bloodstream until they reach another organ in the body and infect it with malignancy (metastases). Despite the science’s interest in the phenomenon of metastases and ways to prevent it, scientists did not focus enough on the timing when cancer cells become active and start moving in the body to attack other organs, until the Swiss study confirmed this. “When a cancer patient sleeps, tumors wake up,” says researcher Nicola Assetto, a cancer doctor at ITH University, in comments reported by the Medical Express website, which specializes in medical research.
During the study, which included about 30 breast cancer patients, as well as experimental mice, the researchers found that tumors secrete more cancer cells when the patient sleeps, and that cells that separate from the original tumor at night, divide and increase at a faster rate, which increases the chances of them turning into secondary tumors. . “The study demonstrated that the detachment of cancer cells from the original tumor is subject to hormones such as melatonin, which is the hormone responsible for changing the body’s rhythm between the hours of the day and night,” said researcher Zoe Diamantopoulou.
Gudrun Hayze | U.A.A.
