Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
Integr Cancer Ther. 2009 Dec;8(4):354-60. doi: 10.1177/1534735409352026.
In industrialized countries, certain types of cancer, most notably, breast and prostate, are more frequent than in poorly developed nations. This high cancer frequency is not explained by any of the conventional causes. Within the past decade, numerous reports have appeared that link light at night with an elevated cancer risk. The three major consequences of light at night are sleep deprivation, chronodisruption, and melatonin suppression. Each of these individually or in combination may contribute to the reported rise in certain types of cancer. In this article, the potential mechanisms underlying the basis of the elevated cancer risk are briefly discussed. Finally, if cancer is a consequence of excessive nighttime light, it is likely that other diseases/conditions may also be exaggerated by the widespread use of light after darkness onset.
在工业化国家，某些类型的癌症，尤其是乳腺癌和前列腺癌，比欠发达国家更为常见。这种高癌症发病率不能用任何传统原因来解释。在过去的十年中，出现了许多报告，将夜间光线与癌症风险增加联系起来。夜间光线的三个主要后果是睡眠剥夺、生物钟打乱和褪黑素抑制。这些因素单独或组合在一起，都可能导致某些类型癌症的发病率上升。在本文中，简要讨论了基础上癌症风险增加的潜在机制。最后，如果癌症是夜间光线过多的结果，那么在天黑后广泛使用光线也可能会使其他疾病/状况恶化。
