Mice with simulated jet lag have an increased risk of developing liver cancer.

Sleeping out of step with the day–night cycle has been linked to various health disorders in humans. David Moore, Loning Fu and their colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, subjected mice to disrupted day–night cycles using artificial lights to simulate chronic jet lag. Compared with mice under steady 24-hour light–dark cycles, jet-lagged animals had impaired liver metabolism and were more prone to developing fatty liver disease and liver cancer.

Much of the disrupted metabolism was linked to excessive accumulation of bile acid in the liver and altered activities of the nuclear receptors FXR and CAR, which might be targets for preventing liver cancer in future.

Cancer Cell http://doi.org/btr7 (2016)