Science sub-journal: Scientists reveal for the first time the mechanistic link between circadian clock disturbance and colorectal cancer

As we all know, circadian rhythm is an endogenous timing system (biological clock) that controls a series of biological processes in the body with a cycle of about 24 hours, including hormone secretion, metabolic cycling and immune protection, while inducing our rhythmic natural Behaviors such as sleep/wake cycles, eating,

Previous studies have identified a cross-regulatory signal in normal intestinal epithelial cells that links the Wnt signaling pathway to clock genes

APC mutations are also associated with a second "hit" in key oncogenic pathways, including Kras, Braf, p53 and Smad4, the researchers said

They found that digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) and whole-exome sequencing of organoids revealed that disruption of intestinal Bmal1 accelerates APC point mutation, deletion, and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) events that in turn aberrantly activate Wnt signaling pathway to drive the formation and proliferation of organoids

Finally, using transcriptomic data from 512 colorectal cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas, the researchers found that differences between clock genes and the Wnt signaling pathway significantly predicted survival in colorectal cancer patients