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American specialists at Yale University School of Medicine found out that such factor and time of the day can play a serious role in the reactions of our immune system, this way manipulating our chances to get one or another type of infection. Their scientific work was focused on looking at the reactions of protein in the immune system on various changes in chemical processes we go through during our daily cycle. According to the experts, our body clock can be a serious factor, and the severity of an infection, to a certain extant, most likely depends on the time of the day when the body has got it.
All living creatures on earth go through a 24-hour cycle, circadian rhythm, and it was known before that the immune system of every one of us works slightly differently in different time of the day. Now, scientists got interested in the subject and several related studies are currently in progress. It was found out already that it takes time for our immune system to recognize the infection before activating the resources to fight it off. 
Experts from Yale were looking closer at the activities of proteins known as Toll-like receptor nine (TLR9) which are involved in the identification process and can detect DNA of incoming viruses and bacteria.
Laboratory experiments with animals have proven that the amounts of this protein and its function do depend on the time of the day and body clock. In addition, the scientists could observe that the animals which were immunized at the maximum activity of TLR9 protein had much better and more effective immune response compared to the animals immunized at any other time. Yale experts said that they seem to be very close to obtaining an explanation of the fact that infectious disease development depends on our body click. For example, practical experience has shown that patients with blood poisoning or sepsis have very high risks to die between 2 a.m and 6 a.m.
According to Prof Erol Fikrig, one of the study leaders, the scientists managed to find “direct molecular link between circadian rhythms and the immune system, which could have important implications for the prevention and treatment of disease“. He also proposed a theory that changes and disruptions on our body clock can make our body more sensitive to bacteria and infections. If you are interested in the information and want to learn more, check out one of the February issues of the journal Immunity, in which the findings of this study were published.
Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.
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