Research from Charité in Berlin, Germany, suggests that timing chemotherapy treatments according to the body’s natural 24-hour circadian cycles could significantly improve their effectiveness, especially for aggressive cancers like triple-negative breast cancer.
The study found that chemotherapy’s effectiveness varied by up to 30% depending on the time it was administered. Each cell in the body, including cancer cells, follows its own internal clock, which influences processes like metabolism and cell division. Researchers developed a “chronotherapeutic index” to identify optimal times for drug administration, potentially improving treatment outcomes.