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It's Erren's Brainchild, Folks!

International University Bremen, School of Engineering and Science, Bremen, Germany

To the Editor:

The recent study by Verkasalo et al. (1) describes the correlation between sleep duration and breast cancer incidence in a prospective cohort study. The results are in principal agreement with the theory that longer sleep is associated with higher melatonin levels, which, in turn, are able to suppress cancer growth. The significance of the findings by Verkasalo et al. is central for the question why cancer incidence is higher in industrialized nations. Surprisingly and disappointingly, though, the authors fail to acknowledge the input by Dr. Erren who not only authored key papers in this regard (2, 3) but who also organized, in 2002, an international conference on this topic in Cologne, Germany. Actually, at least one of the authors of the paper (1) attended the meeting. In his 2002 paper, Erren wrote: "There may be merit, therefore, in considering a possible alternative index of melatonin levels that does not require measurement of biomarkers. The available clinical and experimental laboratory evidence suggests that this could be individuals' cumulative time at sleep."

References

1. Verkasalo PK, Lillberg K, Stevens RG, et al. Sleep duration and breast cancer: a prospective cohort study. Cancer Res 2005;65:9595–600.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Erren TC. Does light cause internal cancers? The problem and challenge of an ubiquitous exposure. Neuro Endocrinol Lett 2002;23 Suppl 2:61–70.[Medline]
3. Erren TC, Piekarski C. Does winter darkness in the Arctic protect against cancer? The melatonin hypothesis revisited. Med Hypotheses 1999;53:1–5.[CrossRef][Medline]

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