Cancer
Medical Studies on Melatonin – Cancer
There have been studies on melatonin as an effective anti-cancer hormone for several decades. It has been demonstrated to alleviate the symptoms of the early-stage, progression and metastasis phases and have a positive impact on the course of the disease. The anti-oxidative and immunoregulatory properties of melatonin and its effect on tumour-specific cell division are responsible for this.
Melatonin inhibits tumour growth
As a “natural killer”, melatonin plays a key role in the uncontrolled growth of cells. Specifically, it reduces the cell division rate, for example by reducing telomerase activity, which results in the programmed cell death of the tumour cells. The researchers also found that melatonin possesses the ability to affect angiogenesis, which is the growth and formation of blood vessels that supply the tumour with oxygen and nutrients, thus facilitating its growth.
An effective accompaniment to therapy
The supportive effect of melatonin during conventional cancer treatments is also proven – for instance, the often toxic consequences of radiotherapy or chemotherapy can be mitigated using melatonin while also enhancing its effectiveness – according to the results of many studies. Studies have also shown that melatonin can affect the treatment resistance of some tumours, making them more susceptible to chemotherapy.
Medical Studies on Melatonin – Cancer
2022-04-08
Uveal melanoma is a rare form of cancer with high mortality. The incidence of metastases is attributed to early seeding of micrometastases from the eye to distant organs, primarily the liver. Once these seeded clusters of dormant tumor cells grow into larger radiologically detectable macrometastases, median patient survival is about 1 year. Melatonin is an important hormone for synchronizing circadian rhythms. It is also involved in other aspects of human physiology and may offer therapeutic benefits for a variety of diseases including cancer.
2022-03-23
Cancer represents a large group of diseases accounting for nearly 10 million deaths each year. Various treatment strategies, including surgical resection combined with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, have been applied for cancer treatment. However, the outcomes remain largely unsatisfying.
2022-01-12
The unique ability to adapt and thrive in inhospitable, stressful tumor microenvironments (TME) also renders cancer cells resistant to traditional chemotherapeutic treatments and/or novel pharmaceuticals.
2021-04-03
Cancers of the reproductive organs are often hard to be detected, and patients’ survival rate drops considerably even when the tumor is removed.
2021-03-19
Many systemic functions display circadian rhythms driven by an endogenous mechanism that is regulated by circadian-related genes and these gene expressions control a central clock in the brain and subordinate clocks in peripheral tissues. However, modern life has introduced environmental factors that often interfere with natural circadian rhythms. Importantly, circadian disruption has been identified as an independent risk factor of cancers.
2021-01-18
Glucose is an essential nutrient for every cell but its metabolic fate depends on cellular phenotype. Normally, the product of cytosolic glycolysis, pyruvate, is transported into mitochondria and irreversibly converted to acetyl coenzyme A by pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC).
2020-07-11
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common types of cancer worldwide, known as the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths annually.
2020-07-01
Radiotherapy is one of the treatments of choice in many types of cancer. Adjuvant treatments to radiotherapy try, on one hand, to enhance the response of tumor cells to radiation and, on the other hand, to reduce the side effects to normal cells.
2020-06-04
The pathogenesis of a COVID-19 respiratory infection, in a major way, is related to what is referred to as the cytokine storm [cytokine storm syndrome (CSS, hypercytokinemia, etc.], i.e., it is a hyper-inflammatory response.
2020-04-18
In cancer cells, glucose is primarily metabolized to pyruvate and then to lactate in the cytosol.
2020-04-16
This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial tested the hypothesis that 20mg of melatonin before and during the first cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer (ACBC) reduced the side effects associated with cognitive impairment.
2020-04-13
PAK1 (RAC/CDC42-activated kinase 1) is the major “pathogenic” kinase whose abnormal activation causes a wide variety of diseases/disorders including cancers, inflammation, malaria and pandemic viral infection including influenza, HIV and COVID-19.
2020-03-05
Cancer incidence is 24% greater in children and young adults exposed to Computed Tomography (CT) scans than those unexposed. Non-repair of ionizing radiation-induced DNA double-Strand Breaks (DSBs) can initiate carcinogenesis. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the radioprotective potential of melatonin against DSBs in peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients undergoing the abdomen-pelvis CT examinations.
2020-02-11
Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity (OSCC) is the sixth most common malignancy. Surgery is mainstay treatment for oral cancers. Surgery in locally advanced OSCC presents many challenges primarily because the head and neck have critical structures that can be damaged by tumor or treatment.
2019-12-19
Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers between women and is known as the third leading cause of female cancer related deaths annually. Its detection in early stages allows it to be a preventable and generally treatable disease.
2019-12-02
Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine), which is generally considered as pleiotropic and multitasking molecule, secretes from pineal gland at night under normal light or dark conditions. Apart from circadian regulations, Melatonin also has antioxidant, anti-ageing, immunomodulation and anticancer properties.
2019-11-16
Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer (ACBC) has been associated with fatigue, pain, depressive symptoms, and disturbed sleep. And, previous studies in non-cancer patients showed that melatonin could improve the descending pain modulatory system (DPMS).
2019-07-26
We have demonstrated previously that melatonin attenuates hepatotoxicity triggered by high doses of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in mice. The current work investigated the influence of melatonin on the oncostatic activity of EGCG in two cancer cell lines, wherein melatonin induced an opposite response of p21.
2019-07-16
Our purpose is to investigate the impact of circadian and melatonin pathway genes as well as their interactions with night-shift work (NSW) on breast cancer risk in Korean women.
2019-07-04
Melatonin has numerous anti-cancer properties reported to influence cancer initiation, promotion, and metastasis. With the need for effective hormone therapies (HT) to treat menopausal symptoms without increasing breast cancer risk, co-administration of nocturnal melatonin with a natural, low-dose HT was evaluated in mice that develop primary and metastatic mammary cancer.