Is it better to get Cancer Therapy at night?

“The study developed out of a mistake. We accidentally omitted a synthetic steroid…from the medium in which we routinely grow mammary gland cells,” “And we noticed that the cells acquired a faster rate of migration when we followed them under a microscope.”
Intrigued, they turned to mice to answer some more questions. Knowing that steroid levels peak during the day and drop off during sleep, Yarden and his colleagues wondered whether the timing of anti-tumor drugs would affect tumor growth. So they gave a group of mice with breast cancer tumors lapatinib at different times over a 24-hour period and tracked any differences in the size and growth of the tumors.
Indeed, the mice given the drug while they slept showed significantly smaller tumors after seven days than those who received the drug during the day. Yarden suspects that the lower levels of steroid hormones circulating at night allows more of the EGF-targeting drug to hone in on its receptors on the tumor cells and inhibit their growth. Not only that, but the tumors in the mice taking the drug at night looked different; they showed less blood vessel infiltration which meant they were less robust.
Does that mean it’s better to get cancer therapy at night? So far, the results only apply to animal models, and to cancers driven by EGF. More work needs to be done, but if it’s validated, shifting therapies to just before bed “seems logical,” says Yarden. Especially since drugs like lapatinib come in pill form, so it would be relatively easy to take medications before turning in rather than in the morning.