A new study has found that cancer patients might live longer if they receive their immunotherapy treatments earlier in the day.
This discovery was published in the journal Cancer and offers a simple way to possibly improve the effectiveness of cancer treatments without adding extra cost.
The idea behind this comes from something called the body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm. This internal clock controls many functions in our body throughout the day, including our immune system. Because of this, researchers believe that the time of day a person receives medicine could affect how well the treatment works.
In this study, scientists looked at 397 people who had an advanced form of lung cancer called extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.
These patients were treated at the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine at Central South University in China between May 2019 and October 2023. They all received a mix of chemotherapy and a type of cancer treatment called immunotherapy, using drugs named atezolizumab or durvalumab.
The researchers wanted to know if the time of day the treatment was given made any difference in how well it worked. They divided the patients into two groups. One group received their treatment before 3:00 p.m., while the other group received it later in the day.
The results showed that the group who received their treatment earlier in the day had better outcomes. These patients went longer without their cancer getting worse, and they lived longer overall.
In fact, when the researchers accounted for other factors that could affect the results, they found that the early treatment group had a 52% lower risk of the cancer getting worse and a 63% lower risk of dying compared to the group treated later in the day.
This is a big finding because it suggests that simply changing the timing of cancer treatment could make a real difference for patients.
According to the lead researcher, Dr. Yongchang Zhang, this timing adjustment is easy to do and doesn’t cost anything. It can be used in hospitals and clinics around the world. He believes this could quickly change how doctors treat small cell lung cancer.
Let’s take a closer look at what this study means. Immunotherapy is a powerful new way of treating cancer. It helps the body’s immune system find and attack cancer cells. But not every patient responds the same way.
By giving this treatment earlier in the day, doctors may be helping the immune system do a better job, because the body is more active and alert during the daytime.
Although the study was focused on lung cancer, it raises the question of whether timing might matter for other types of cancer and other treatments as well.
More research is needed to see if this strategy works in different settings. Still, this study is exciting because it shows how something as simple as the time on the clock could give patients a better chance at fighting cancer.
In summary, this study suggests that giving cancer immunotherapy earlier in the day—before 3:00 p.m.—may help patients live longer and delay cancer progression. It’s a low-cost change with potentially life-changing results, and it opens the door to new ways of improving care just by working with the body’s natural rhythms.
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