Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
Razi Drug Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Eur J Pharmacol. 2020 Nov 5;886:173471. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2020.173471. Epub 2020 Aug 30.
Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, leading causes of cancer-related deaths, have been serious challenging human diseases up to now. Because of high rates of mortality, late-stage diagnosis, metastasis to distant locations, and low effectiveness and adverse events of routine standard therapies, the quality of life and survival time are low in patients with GI cancers. Hence, many efforts need to be done to explore and find novel efficient treatments. Beneficial effects of melatonin have been reported in a wide variety of human diseases. Melatonin has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer effects. Various studies have showed the regulatory effects of melatonin on apoptotsis, autophagy and angiogenesis; these properties result in the inhibition of invasion, migration, and proliferation of GI cancer cells in vivo and in vitro. Together, this review suggests that melatonin in combination with anticancer agents may improve the efficacy of routine medicine and survival rate of patients with cancer.
胃肠道（GI）癌症是导致癌症相关死亡的主要原因，一直是严重挑战人类的疾病。由于死亡率高、晚期诊断、远处转移以及常规标准治疗的效果低和不良反应，胃肠道癌症患者的生活质量和生存时间都很低。因此，需要进行许多努力来探索和寻找新的有效治疗方法。褪黑素在多种人类疾病中都有有益的作用。褪黑素具有抗氧化、抗炎、抗菌和抗癌作用。各种研究表明，褪黑素对凋亡、自噬和血管生成有调节作用；这些特性导致体内和体外抑制 GI 癌细胞的侵袭、迁移和增殖。总之，本综述表明，褪黑素与抗癌药物联合使用可能提高常规药物的疗效和癌症患者的生存率。
