Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Dim light escalates breast cancer’s spread to bones

Date:

Share post:

Exposure to dim light at night may contribute to spreading of breast cancer to bones, researchers have shown in an animal study.
When breast cancer spreads it often affects bones, cause severe pain and make them fragile. “To date no one has reported that exposure to dim light at night induces circadian disruption, which increases spread of bone metastatic breast cancer,” said Muralidharan Anbalagan, Assistant Professor, at Tulane University in New Orleans.
The findings were presented at ENDO 2019, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans.
For the preliminary study, the team created a mouse model of bone metastatic breast cancer.
They injected oestrogen receptor-positive human breast cancer cells, which have a low propensity to grow in bones, into the tibia (shinbone) of female mice.
Like humans, mice produced a strong night-time circadian melatonin signal, shown to produce strong anti-cancer actions and for promoting sleep.
While one group of mice was kept in the light for 12 hours each day, the other group of three mice in the dark for 12 hours. Another group spent 12 hours in light, followed by 12 hours in dim light at night.
X-ray images showed that mice exposed to a light or dim light cycle had much larger tumours and increased bone damage compared with mice kept in a standard light/dark cycle, he noted.
“Our research identified the importance of an intact nocturnal circadian melatonin anti-cancer signal in suppressing bone-metastatic breast tumour growth,” Anbalagan said. (IANS)

Related articles

Snooker: Aditya fights back to defeat Gohil 4-2

MUMBAI, April 28: Aditya Shandilya came from behind to record a 4-2 win over Rushabh Gohil in the...

India face uphill task against Indonesia in battle for survival

Sudirman Cup Final XIAMEN, (China) April 28: Faced with a herculean task to trump a formidable Indonesia and stay...

Tura-o mikka balwa ta·rakanga, garirangko bol be·dapa

TURA: Sombar pringo, Tura aro samba jolrango mikka balwa ta·rakangaha aro bang·a biaprangon bol wa·arangni be·anirangko nikna man·aha. Mikkarang,...

Play suspended at Madrid Open over major power outage

MADRID, April 28: Play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended Monday due to a major power...