• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Subscribe to the Journal
  • Contact Us
Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy

Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy

Official Publication of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy

Fitting the Final Pieces in the Circadian Clock Puzzle

September 17, 2014 by admin

 

How do the circadian clock genes operate to generate and maintain the daily and seasonal rhythmicity in human cells? The final pieces of this puzzle have now fallen into place with research findings from the UNC’s School of Medicine.

 

The finding (published in the journal Genes and Development) could have far reaching implications. “We’ve known for a while that four proteins were involved in generating daily rhythmicity but not exactly what they did”, say Aziz Sancar and Sarah Graham Kenan, senior authors of the paper. “Now we know how the clock is reset in all cells. So we have a better idea of what to expect if we target these proteins with therapeutics.”

 

The four genes – Cryptochrome, Period, CLOCK, and BMAL1 – are known to work in a well-orchestrated feedback loop of protein expression and suppression to allow body cells kick-start and wind down the circadian clock. How exactly this happens at the back end was the mystery.

 

Researchers at Sancar’s lab at the UNC School of Medicine have now shown how the entire clock really works. On a well-founded assumption that the two genes Cryptochrome and Period may have complementary roles in this cycle, they conducted experiments to selectively remove and add the two genes to unfold the picture in its entirety.

 

This is a huge step in the development of drugs for various diseases such as cancers and diabetes, as well as conditions such as metabolic syndrome, insomnia, seasonal affective disorder, obesity, and even jetlag. Says Dr Sancar, “Now, when we screen for drugs that target these proteins, we know to expect different outcomes and why we get those outcomes…Circadian clocks in cancer cells could become targets for cancer drugs to make other therapeutics more effective.”

 

Click Here for Abstract

Filed Under: Articles

Primary Sidebar

More to See

Xywav Oral Solution for Idiopathic Hypersomnia

February 16, 2022 By Alan Hickey

New Insomnia Drug Improves Sleep Outcomes for Adults

February 10, 2022 By Alan Hickey

Tags

apnea CPAP Health Home Sleep Home Sleep Testing insomnia narcolepsy obstructive sleep apnea Sleep sleep apnea sleep apnea symptoms sleep apnea syndrome sleep apnea treatment sleep appliances sleep buisness Sleep Business sleep center Sleep Centers sleep community sleep diagnosis sleep diagnostic sleep diagnostics sleep disease sleep disorder sleep disorder center sleep disordered breathing sleep disorders sleep heart health sleep industry sleeping Sleep Lab sleep labs sleep management sleep medicine sleep monitor sleep physicians sleep problems sleep studies sleep study sleep technologist sleep test sleep testing Technology therapy Treatment

Footer

About SleepDT

SleepDT Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy is a clinical Journal for allied Sleep Professionals, Neurologists, Psychiatrists, Pulmonologists, Primary Care Physicians, and other medical specialists. We also advocate on behalf of patient care in the field of Sleep Medicine

Recent

  • Sleep Hygiene: Which Bedroom Colors to Avoid and which Promote Good Sleep??
  • Xywav Oral Solution for Idiopathic Hypersomnia
  • New Insomnia Drug Improves Sleep Outcomes for Adults
  • Mark Cuban Billionaire Entrepreneur and Television Personality Launches Online Pharmacy for Generic Drugs
  • Americans Say They’re Sleep-Deprived After the Super Bowl

NAVIGATION

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Subscribe to the Journal
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2022 · Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy