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Certain illnesses or crisis conditions such as heart attacks or asthma attacks tend to occur early in the day. A team of researchers discovered the reason.
Why do asthma, heart attacks and many other illnesses often occur in the early hours of the morning? A possible explanation for this mysterious phenomenon has been discovered by biomolecular science researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science. A matter of proteins produced would be in question.
A reaction of the body to lack of oxygen
The research team reports having discovered that a key element of our circadian clock, governing our biological rhythms, also regulates our body’s response to lack of oxygen. This component, which undergoes changes during the day and night, could affect the timing of the onset of diseases that are influenced by the body’s oxygen cycle.
The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded in 2019 to three researchers who discovered hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha HIF-1α, the key protein that determines how each cell reacts to lack of oxygen.
As long as there is enough oxygen, the protein remains unstable and breaks down quickly; but when there is a lack of oxygen, it stabilizes, accumulates and enters the nucleus of cells where it activates many essential genes to respond to the lack of oxygen.
A protein that reacts differently at night and during the day
This HIF-1α is not the only key player. In the new study conducted, the team discovered that the BMAL1 protein, another key component of our circadian clocks, also plays an important role in the body’s response to lack of oxygen. Because this BMAL-1 protein is necessary for the stabilization and activation of HIF-1α seen previously.
These new findings could explain why the body’s response to lack of oxygen and its ability to cope with various pathologies change during the day and night.
A discovery to be pursued in humans
“We know that BMAL1 undergoes changes during the natural circadian cycle, which could explain why mortality rates vary throughout the day and perhaps also why diseases linked to low oxygen are weather dependent.”confirms Gad Asher, co-author of the study. “These and other discoveries have helped us understand that the circadian clock does not just respond to lack of oxygen, as was already known, but that it actually activates the body’s mechanism to cope with the lack of oxygen. oxygen”, he concludes.
Next step? Verify this reaction in the human species, to perhaps lead to therapeutic options.
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