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Updated: May 3, 2026

Parallel Measurement of Circadian Clock Gene Expression and Hormone Secretion in Human Primary Cell Cultures
Published on: November 11, 2016
[Circadian clocks and lifestyle-related diseases]
1Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke 329-0498, Japan. h-ando@jichi.ac.jp
Abstract:
Recent studies have demonstrated relationships between the disturbance of circadian rhythm and the development of lifestyle-related diseases. First, epidemiological studies showed that rotating shift workers are more likely to develop obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and cancers than day shift employees. In addition, mice with their circadian rhythm chronically impaired by alteration of the light-dark cycle also develop such diseases. Furthermore, both the genotypes and genetic modifications of the clock genes are associated with the development of lifestyle-related diseases in humans and mice, respectively. Finally, circadian clocks in peripheral tissues are impaired in both patients with type 2 diabetes and obese diabetic mice, probably not due to metabolic abnormalities, but to the lifestyle, aging, and/or genetic factors. Thus, disturbance of the circadian rhythm is an important cause of lifestyle-related diseases, and therefore the circadian clocks are attractive therapeutic targets for preventing and treating these conditions.
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