Does this cancer spread faster as people sleep?
A study of laboratory mice and humans found a very interesting finding that could change the way people with cancer are treated.
Here are all the details
Walla!
health
29/06/2022
Wednesday, 29 June 2022, 07:31 Updated: 07:53
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What happens to the body when we sleep?
An old woman (Photo: ShutterStock, PeopleImages.com - Yuri A)
We already know that sleep is very necessary for our health, but now a new study reveals that it has both a negative side when it comes to both patients and breast cancer patients.
The new study published in Nature found that when people sleep, breast cancer metastases form more effectively.
The researchers took blood from 30 breast cancer patients and laboratory mice at varying times.
It was found that 78 percent of all tumor cells (CTC) found from the combined samples came from those taken in the typical sleep phase.
The research team also found that cells that go out at night are more likely to metastasize.
This is because compared to circulating tumor cells that divide during the day, nocturnal cells tend to divide faster.
"When the injured person sleeps, the tumor wakes up," study editor Nicola Echeto said in a statement.
More on Walla!
I'm just asking: What happens to our body and mind when we sleep?
To the full article
Cancer is one of the biggest threats to human health, and breast cancer is one of the most common cancers - there are 2.3 million cases worldwide a year, and according to statistics in Israel, 1 in 8 women will develop it during their lifetime.
If breast cancer is detected early enough, patients usually respond well to treatment.
However, treatment can be more difficult when metastases occur and they cause 90 percent of all cancer deaths.
"Our research shows that the proliferation of cancer cells from the original tumor is controlled by hormones like melatonin, which determine our day and night rhythms," the authors said.
Is this a study that will change the method of cancer treatment?
Woman doing self-examination (Photo: ShutterStock)
The results of this study also show that the time at which blood or tumor samples are taken may change the results - this is what actually led to this study in the first place.
"Some of our colleagues work early in the morning or late in the evening; sometimes they also perform the tests at non-routine hours," they said.
These abnormal hours highlighted that circulating cancer cell levels vary with time.
"In our view, these findings may indicate the need for healthcare professionals to systematically document the time they perform biopsies," says Echeto, "and this may help make the data truly comparable."
The samples taken from the mice also highlighted something unusual: there was always a higher number of cancer cells in mice compared to humans.
By the way, mice are nocturnal animals, and scientists usually collected the samples during the day, when the mice were more likely to sleep.
Now, scientists will try to figure out how to integrate the findings into existing cancer treatments.
The team also wants to investigate whether other cancers work the same way, and whether current treatments are more successful if patients receive them at different times during the day.
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Sleep
cancer
breast cancer
