Melatonin as Adjuvant Cancer Care With and Without Chemotherapy

Abstract

MLT may benefit cancer patients who are also receiving chemotherapy, radiotherapy, supportive therapy, or palliative therapy by improving survival and ameliorating the side effects of chemotherapy.

What is known about melatonin, chemotherapy and altered gene expression in breast cancer

“…The majority of the results are positive, and melatonin has been described as an inhibitor of tumor growth under both in vitro and in vivo experimental conditions (64,81,97). The results arisen in the past few years also suggest that melatonin, either alone or along with chemotherapy in cancer patients diagnosed with advanced solid tumors, helps to improve the outcomes of cancer regression and life expectancy of the patients (122,128). Additionally, chemotherapies are typically better tolerated by patients who are simultaneously treated with melatonin (125).…”

“…A recent report concludes that melatonin combined with chemotherapy did not significantly improved survival or ameliorated various adverse side effects in patients with non-small cell lung advanced cancer, although certain improvement in the quality of life of these patients was observed (127). A systematic review comprising data from 21 clinical trials (all the patients enrolled in the studies were bearing solid tumors), in which the effect of melatonin concomitantly added in conjunction with chemotherapy or radiotherapy was evaluated, and supportive care, partial response, complete response, 1-year survival and chemotherapy-associated toxicities were assessed (128), concluded that melatonin may serve a beneficial role in cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy. Patients who received melatonin experienced substantial improvements, particularly in terms of tumor remission and 1-year survival rates and melatonin also ameliorated the side effects of chemotherapy (127,128).…”

“…A systematic review comprising data from 21 clinical trials (all the patients enrolled in the studies were bearing solid tumors), in which the effect of melatonin concomitantly added in conjunction with chemotherapy or radiotherapy was evaluated, and supportive care, partial response, complete response, 1-year survival and chemotherapy-associated toxicities were assessed (128), concluded that melatonin may serve a beneficial role in cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy. Patients who received melatonin experienced substantial improvements, particularly in terms of tumor remission and 1-year survival rates and melatonin also ameliorated the side effects of chemotherapy (127,128). Furthermore, another review summarising the data from eight eligible randomized controlled trials (n=761) obtained similar conclusions (129).…”

“…In summary, previous studies point to melatonin as a molecule that has a great potential to be useful as an anticancer chemical without producing adverse effects (128). Therefore, melatonin should be considered for both the prevention and therapy of estrogen-positive mammary tumors.…”

“…Following the pioneer clinical study of melatonin potential positive effects in untreatable advanced cancer patients performed by Lissoni et al (118) several studies have been published (124–129). The main limitation is the requirement of further studies, including additional randomized double-blind controlled trials with much larger sample sizes and implicating several international hospital centres, since the data available nowadays derive from clinical trials including only a few hundred patients (128). Furthermore, it must be considered that not all the studies performed to date point to melatonin as a molecule that improves life expectancy and ameliorates the adverse effects of chemotherapy (120,121).…”