Does winter darkness in the Arctic protect against cancer? The melatonin hypothesis revisited
Does winter darkness in the Arctic protect against cancer? The melatonin hypothesis revisited
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DOI：
10.1054/mehy.1999.0810
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发表时间：
1999-07-01
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Piekarski, C
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Erren, TC;Piekarski, C
褪黑激素假说指出，过度暴露于环境光可能会导致乳腺癌的风险，通过受损的松果体分泌褪黑激素。一个以前没有考虑过的推论是，在长时间的冬季黑暗期间经历光照不足的人，抑瘤褪黑激素的净年度增加是预期的;因此，居住在北极圈北部而不是南部的人，依赖于癌症的发生率应该较低。与我们的预测一致，流行病学数据表明，北极地区依赖于食物的癌症风险普遍较低。关于遗传、生殖、营养、生活方式和环境风险因素的现有文献没有提供观察到的癌症模式的明显线索。此外，据报道，生活在北极地区的人的昼夜和24小时褪黑激素浓度在11月至1月期间较高，当时光照强度较低。由于这些观察结果与我们的推论和相关的预测是一致的，我们建议在北极低风险人群中进行褪黑激素抑制致癌作用的研究。
The melatonin hypothesis states that excess exposure to environmental light may contribute to breast cancer risks via impaired pineal secretion of melatonin. A corollary, not considered previously, is that a net annual increase in oncostatic melatonin would be expected in persons who experience a light deficit during extended winter darkness periods; thus, hormone-dependent cancers should occur less frequently in people who reside north, rather than south, of the Arctic circle. Consistent with our prediction, epidemiological data indicate uniformly low risks for hormone-dependent cancers in the Arctic. The available literature on genetic, reproductive, nutritional, life-style, and environmental risk factors provides no obvious clues to the observed cancer patterns. Moreover, diurnal and 24-hour melatonin concentrations in humans living in Arctic regions were reported as high in November-January, when light intensity is low. Since these observations are consistent with our corollary and the associated prediction, we suggest that research on a melatonin-inhibited carcinogenesis in the low-risk populations of the Arctic should be pursued.