Martínez-Campa Carlos, Menéndez-Menéndez Javier, Alonso-González Carolina, González Alicia, Álvarez-García Virginia, Cos Samuel
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria and Research Institute Valdecilla, 39011 Santander, Spain.
Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot Watt University, EH14 4AS Edinburgh, UK.
Oncol Lett. 2017 Apr;13(4):2003-2014. doi: 10.3892/ol.2017.5712. Epub 2017 Feb 10.
Melatonin, synthesized in and released from the pineal gland, has been demonstrated by multiple and studies to have an oncostatic role in hormone-dependent tumors. Furthermore, several clinical trials point to melatonin as a promising adjuvant molecule to be considered for cancer treatment. In the past few years, evidence of a broader spectrum of action of melatonin as an antitumor agent has arisen; thus, melatonin appears to also have therapeutic effects in several types of hormone-independent cancer, including ovarian, leukemic, pancreatic, gastric and non-small cell lung carcinoma. In the present study, the latest findings regarding melatonin molecular actions when concomitantly administered with either radiotherapy or chemotherapy in cancer were reviewed, with a particular focus on hormone-dependent breast cancer. Finally, the present study discusses which direction should be followed in the next years to definitely clarify whether or not melatonin administration could protect against non-desirable effects (such as altered gene expression and post-translational protein modifications) caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatments. As treatments move towards personalized medicine, comparative gene expression profiling with and without melatonin may be a powerful tool to better understand the antitumor effects of melatonin, the pineal gland hormone.
褪黑素由松果体合成并释放，多项研究已证明其在激素依赖性肿瘤中具有抑癌作用。此外，多项临床试验表明，褪黑素有望成为一种可用于癌症治疗的辅助分子。在过去几年中，有证据表明褪黑素作为一种抗肿瘤药物具有更广泛的作用谱；因此，褪黑素似乎对几种激素非依赖性癌症也有治疗作用，包括卵巢癌、白血病、胰腺癌、胃癌和非小细胞肺癌。在本研究中，回顾了褪黑素与放疗或化疗联合应用于癌症时分子作用的最新研究结果，特别关注激素依赖性乳腺癌。最后，本研究讨论了在未来几年应朝着哪个方向进行研究，以明确褪黑素的使用是否可以预防化疗或放疗引起的不良影响（如基因表达改变和翻译后蛋白质修饰）。随着治疗向个性化医疗发展，对比使用和不使用褪黑素时的基因表达谱可能是更好地理解褪黑素（这种松果体激素）抗肿瘤作用的有力工具。
