# Integrated Informatic and Experimental Evaluations of Cancer Chronotherapy

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2021 · $599,614

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Years of clinical experience and a growing body of basic research suggest that chemotherapeutic
activity can change with time-of-day. But when should our patients take their medicines? Must
we test each new agent for circadian modulation in both efficacy and toxicity? Which tumors are
most sensitive to chemotherapy administration time? Can we tailor our recommendations for
individual patients?
Temporal variation in the abundance of drug targets, transporters, and metabolizing enzymes,
in both tumors and normal tissues, underlies circadian variation in drug activity. Until recently
almost all we knew about tissue specific circadian rhythms came from normal mice. Without
human data, a mechanistic, hypothesis-driven transition to medical practice has been slow.
Recently we developed CYCLOPS (CYCLic Ordering by Periodic Structure) a machine-learning
algorithm to uncover human transcriptional oscillations using existing, unordered biopsy
samples. We used CYCLOPS to explore circadian rhythms in human lung and liver, identify
disrupted rhythms in hepatocellular carcinoma, and predict circadian changes in drug
effectiveness.
This proposal will greatly expand that work and accelerate its translation to clinical oncology.
Using public data, we will describe the molecular rhythms in an array of normal human tissues
and thus the times of day when these tissues are least sensitive to specific drug toxicities. We
will also describe rhythms in select tumors, identifying circadian times and cell cycle phases
when cancers are most distinct from surrounding tissue and thus uniquely sensitive to various
treatments.
We will explore the influence of specific mutations and tumor markers on the rhythms observed
in patients. Mapping these data onto pharmacogenomics databases we can make testable
prediction as to the drugs and side effects most influenced by circadian time.
Finally using both experimental mouse data and our preliminary human results, we have
compiled a list of some of the most promising chronotheraputic candidates. We will expand and
refine this list over the course of the study, testing several of these predictions in established
animal models, and exploring the promise and practical principles of cancer chronotherapy.
Taken together these aims will help catalyze chronotheraputic translation to clinical oncology
and help delineate the role of time in precision cancer therapy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10130460
- **Project number:** 5R01CA227485-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Ron C. Anafi
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $599,614
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-03 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10130460

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10130460, Integrated Informatic and Experimental Evaluations of Cancer Chronotherapy (5R01CA227485-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10130460. Licensed CC0.

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