Department of Biomedical Science, Biomedical Science Institute, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
J Pineal Res. 2013 Apr;54(3):264-70. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-079X.2012.01030.x. Epub 2012 Aug 27.
The sustained expansion of a tumor mass requires new blood vessel formation to provide rapidly proliferating tumor cells with an adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) plays an essential role in tumor angiogenesis and growth by regulating the transcription of genes in response to hypoxic stress. This study was designed to investigate the effects of melatonin on tumor growth and angiogenesis, as well as the mechanism underlying the antitumor activities of melatonin. In this study, we show that the administration of melatonin inhibits tumor growth and blocks tumor angiogenesis in mice. Moreover, melatonin diminished the expression of the HIF-1α protein within the tumor mass during tumorigenesis. Our findings suggest that melatonin is a promising anti-angiogenic therapeutic agent targeting HIF-1α in cancer. Considering that HIF-1α is overexpressed in a majority of human cancers, melatonin could offer a potent therapeutic agent for cancer.
肿瘤块的持续扩张需要新的血管形成，为快速增殖的肿瘤细胞提供充足的氧气和营养。缺氧诱导因子 1（HIF-1）在肿瘤血管生成和生长中起着至关重要的作用，它通过调节基因的转录来应对缺氧应激。本研究旨在探讨褪黑素对肿瘤生长和血管生成的影响，以及褪黑素抗肿瘤活性的作用机制。在这项研究中，我们表明褪黑素的给药抑制了小鼠肿瘤的生长并阻断了肿瘤血管生成。此外，褪黑素在肿瘤发生过程中减少了肿瘤组织中 HIF-1α 蛋白的表达。我们的研究结果表明，褪黑素是一种针对 HIF-1α 的有前途的抗血管生成治疗剂，可用于癌症治疗。由于 HIF-1α 在大多数人类癌症中过度表达，因此褪黑素可能成为一种有效的癌症治疗药物。
