Circadian disruption linked with cancer and how
Written By : Isra Zaman
Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli
Published On 2022-09-30 04:15 GMT | Update On 2022-09-30 04:15 GMT
Recent findings highlight that chronic circadian disruption significantly increased lung cancer growth in animal models. By identifying the genes implicated, the researchers are illuminating the mysterious link between our sleeping patterns and disease, which could help inform everything from developing more targeted cancer treatments to better monitoring high-risk groups.To figure this out...
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Recent findings highlight that chronic circadian disruption significantly increased lung cancer growth in animal models. By identifying the genes implicated, the researchers are illuminating the mysterious link between our sleeping patterns and disease, which could help inform everything from developing more targeted cancer treatments to better monitoring high-risk groups.
To figure this out the scientists used a mouse model with expressed KRAS-the most commonly mutated gene in lung cancer. Half of the mice were housed in a "normal" light cycle, meaning 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. The other half were housed in a light cycle meant to resemble that of shift workers', where the light hours were moved earlier by eight hours every two or three days.
The findings aligned with what the researchers initially thought: mice that were exposed to the irregular, shifting light patterns had an increased tumor burden of 68%.
But when they used RNA sequencing to determine the different genes involved in the cancer growth, they were surprised that a collection in the heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) family of proteins was the main culprit.
HSF1 genes are responsible for making sure proteins are still made correctly even when a cell is under extreme stress-in this case, when it experiences changes in temperature. The team suspects that HSF1 activity is increased in response to circadian disruption because changes in our sleep cycles disturb the daily rhythms of our bodies' temperature.
With these discoveries in hand, the scientists are now evaluating if HSF1 signaling is required to increase tumor burden and isn't solely just a correlation.
Reference:
Katja Lamia et al JOURNAL Science Advances DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abo1123
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