Adjuvant chemotherapy with melatonin for targeting human cancers: A review.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to evaluate the role of melatonin as an adjuvant therapy in human cancer, focusing on its antitumoral effects, synergy with chemotherapy, and impact on patient survival and quality of life.
Results Summary
Melatonin demonstrated synergistic antitumoral effects when combined with chemotherapy, reducing drug resistance and dosage requirements while minimizing side effects. It improved survival rates, quality of life, and reduced cancer cell viability by modulating cancer progression signals and circadian rhythms.
Population
Human cancer patients (specific cancer types not detailed in the abstract).
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
melatonin | decrease | tumors | - | - | has antitumoral effects | #1 |
melatonin | neutral | tumors from normal cells | - | - | differentially influence | #2 |
Combination of melatonin with chemotherapy | decrease | tumors | affected patients | - | could provide synergistic antitumoral outcomes | #3 |
Combination of melatonin with chemotherapy | decrease | drug resistance | affected patients | - | resolve | #4 |
This combination | decrease | the dosage for chemotherapeutic agents | - | - | reduces | #5 |
This combination | decrease | side effects related to these drugs on normal cells around tumor and on healthy organs | - | - | attenuation of | #6 |
The combination therapy | increase | the rate of survival | affected patients | - | increases | #7 |
The combination therapy | increase | the quality of life | affected patients | - | improves | #8 |
the combinational melatonin therapy | decrease | Cancer cell viability | - | - | reduced | #9 |
Melatonin is a multifunctional hormone that has long been known for its antitumoral effects. An advantage of the application of melatonin in cancer therapy is its ability to differentially influence tumors from normal cells. In this review, the roles of melatonin adjuvant therapy in human cancer are discussed. Combination of melatonin with chemotherapy could provide synergistic antitumoral outcomes and resolve drug resistance in affected patients. This combination reduces the dosage for chemotherapeutic agents with the subsequent attenuation of side effects related to these drugs on normal cells around tumor and on healthy organs. The combination therapy increases the rate of survival and improves the quality of life in affected patients. Cancer cell viability is reduced after application of the combinational melatonin therapy. Melatonin does all these functions by adjusting the signals involved in cancer progression, re-establishing the dark/light circadian rhythm, and disrupting the redox system for cancer cells. To achieve effective therapeutic outcomes, melatonin concentration along with the time of incubation for this indoleamine needs to be adjusted. Importantly, a special focus is required to be made on choosing an appropriate chemotherapy agent for using in combination with melatonin. Because of different sensitivities of cancer cells for melatonin combination therapy, cancer-specific targeted therapy is also needed to be considered. For this review, the PubMed database was searched for relevant articles based on the quality of journals, the novelty of articles published by the journals, and the number of citations per year focusing only on human cancers.