A new study has claimed that breast cancer spreads through the body quicker while an affected person is asleep.
The study was carried out by researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Basel and included 30 female cancer patients as well as mouse models.
The researchers found in the subjects monitored, circulating cancer cells mainly arise during sleep.
The study, which was published in the journal Nature may have revealed some basic human physiology that has so far flown under the radar, says Qing-Jun Meng, a chronobiologist at the University of Manchester.
The scientist suggested that it may lead to better ways of tracking the cancer’s progression.
In both the human and mouse models, it was found that the tumour generates more circulating cells while an organism is asleep due to sleep-related hormones.
This was the case at night for humans, while the mice showed surprisingly high numbers of cancer cells per unit of blood during the day, as they are nocturnal animals.
Zoi Diamantopoulou, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, said: "Our research shows that the escape of circulating cancer cells from the original tumour is controlled by hormones such as melatonin, which determine our rhythms of day and night,".
"When the affected person is asleep, the tumour awakens," summarises study leader Nicola Aceto in a press release by Science Daily.
"In our view, these findings may indicate the need for healthcare professionals to systematically record the time at which they perform biopsies," Aceto says. "It may help to make the data truly comparable."
Nicola Aceto, who is a Professor of Molecular Oncology at ETH Zurich, now wants to see if different types of cancer respond similarly to the way that breast cancer did in the study.
Using the findings that they have, the researchers will also look into how the time of day can be incorporated into existing cancer treatments in order to optimise therapies.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
READ NEXT:
