研究發現 上夜班會造成DNA損傷並引發癌症

Night shift work may stop the body repairing daily damage to DNA and raise the risk of mutations that lead to cancer, a new study suggests.

一項新研究顯示，上夜班可能阻止身體修復日常的DNA損傷，提高發生致癌突變的風險。

US reSearchers have discovered that when people work nights they produce 80% less of a chemical that is a by-product of DNA tissue repair.

美國研究人員發現，人們上夜班時，體內分泌的某種化學物質會減少80%，這種化學物質是脫氧核糖核酸(DNA)組織修復的副產品。

This indicates that the body is not carrying out the crucial restoration to cells that should happen naturally overnight.

這表明人體沒有對細胞進行關鍵的修復，而這種修復本應在夜間自然地完成。

Scientists believe the effect could be caused by a lack of melatonin, the sleep hormone, which is far lower among people who sleep in the daytime.

科學家認爲，這種效應可能是由缺乏褪黑激素，即睡眠荷爾蒙引發的，在白天睡覺的人羣當中，這種激素水平要低得多。

They believe that shift workers may need to take sleep hormone supplements to allow DNA to carry out repairs as they sleep in the day.

科學家認爲，倒班員工也許需要攝入睡眠荷爾蒙補充劑，讓DNA在他們白天睡覺時進行修復。

If such effects are confirmed, melatonin supplementation should be explored as an intervention to reduce the occurrence of potentially carcinogenic DNA damage among shift workers, said Dr Parveen Bhatti from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.

華盛頓州西雅圖的福瑞德·哈金森腫瘤研究中心的帕爾文·巴提博士表示，如果此效果得到證實，則應探討用褪黑激素補充劑進行干預，來減少倒班員工出現可能致癌的DNA損傷。