Can the timing of cancer treatment reduce side effects? Our new study says yes — and opens the door to personalised chronotherapy.
Can the timing of cancer treatment reduce side effects? Our new study says yes — and opens the door to personalised chronotherapy.
I am extremely happy to share the results of our latest study, now published in eBioMedicine – The Lancet Discovery Science, which shows a strong link between circadian rhythm disruption and increased toxicity in ovarian cancer patients treated with PARP inhibitors.
Led by our group (first author Deeksha Malhan with me in the photo) together with Elena Ioana Braicu (Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin) and a wonderful network of hospitals and researchers across Germany, we tracked the expression of up to 800 genes – including key circadian regulators like BMAL1 and PER2 – using TimeTeller, our precision medicine tool that brings circadian biology into clinical trials.
TimeTeller GmbH, a spin-off from the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and now based at MSH Medical School Hamburg, is a prime example of how academic science and innovative startups can join forces to shape the future of personalised medicine. By aligning treatment with a patient’s biological clock, we can work toward therapies that are not only more effective but also easier to tolerate.
We are deeply grateful to the patients who participated in this study. Your contribution is invaluable and brings hope for better, kinder therapies in the future.
But to truly bring these insights into everyday clinical practice, we need continued research — and sustainable funding. Chronotherapy holds enormous potential to reduce side effects and improve outcomes for many patients, but it requires strong support from the scientific, clinical, and policy-making communities.
This is not a cure — but it is a promising step toward treatments that respect the rhythms of life. Let’s continue building this future together.
Read the full study here: https://lnkd.in/deKqzRBz
Read the press release here: https://lnkd.in/d89_3Nxh