Some diseases or emergencies, such as heart attacks or asthma, often occur early in the day. A research team has found the reason for this.
Why do asthma, heart disease and many other diseases often occur in the morning? Biomolecular researchers at the Weizmann Research Institute have discovered a possible explanation for the mysterious phenomenon.
The cause appears to be protein-related problems.
The body’s response to hypoxia
The research team reported that they discovered that a significant part of the circadian clock regulates our biological systems and can also regulate our body’s response to hypoxia. This composition changes during the day and at night, affecting the onset of diseases that affect the body’s oxygen circulation.
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three scientists for their discovery of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha HIF-1α, a key protein that determines each cell’s response to hypoxia.
As long as there is sufficient oxygen, the protein remains unstable and is rapidly degraded;
A protein that responds differently during the day and at night
HIF-1α is not the only important player. In the new study, the team discovered that another important component of the circadian clock, the BMAL1 protein, also plays a key role in the body’s response to hypoxia. This protein, BMAL-1, is essential for the stabilization and activation of the previously seen HIF-1α.
These new findings will explain why the body’s response to hypoxia and its ability to cope with various pathologies vary from day to night.
A quest awaiting ongoing human research
“We know that BMAL1 changes during the circadian period, which could explain why deaths vary from day to day and perhaps why hypoxic cells are time-dependent,” said Gad Asher, author of the study. “These and other findings help us understand that the circadian clock is not just a response to hypoxia, as previously thought, but also activates the body’s immune system in response to hypoxia,” he concluded.