Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Cell Commun Signal. 2023 Feb 9;21(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12964-023-01047-x.
Combined chemotherapy is a treatment method based on the simultaneous use of two or more therapeutic agents; it is frequently necessary to produce a more effective treatment for cancer patients. Such combined treatments often improve the outcomes over that of the monotherapy approach, as the drugs synergistically target critical cell signaling pathways or work independently at different oncostatic sites. A better prognosis has been reported in patients treated with combination therapy than in patients treated with single drug chemotherapy. In recent decades, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has become one of the most widely used chemotherapy agents in cancer treatment. This medication, which is soluble in water, is used as the first line of anti-neoplastic agent in the treatment of several cancer types including breast, head and neck, stomach and colon cancer. Within the last three decades, many studies have investigated melatonin as an anti-cancer agent; this molecule exhibits various functions in controlling the behavior of cancer cells, such as inhibiting cell growth, inducing apoptosis, and inhibiting invasion. The aim of this review is to comprehensively evaluate the role of melatonin as a complementary agent with 5-FU-based chemotherapy for cancers. Additionally, we identify the potential common signaling pathways by which melatonin and 5-FU interact to enhance the efficacy of the combined therapy. Video abstract.
联合化疗是一种基于同时使用两种或多种治疗剂的治疗方法；为癌症患者提供更有效的治疗往往是必要的。这种联合治疗通常比单一药物化疗更能改善治疗效果，因为这些药物协同靶向关键的细胞信号通路，或者在不同的抗肿瘤部位独立发挥作用。与接受单一药物化疗的患者相比，接受联合治疗的患者预后更好。在过去的几十年中，5-氟尿嘧啶（5-FU）已成为癌症治疗中最广泛使用的化疗药物之一。这种水溶性药物被用作包括乳腺癌、头颈部癌、胃癌和结肠癌在内的多种癌症类型的一线抗肿瘤药物。在过去的三十年中，许多研究已经将褪黑素作为一种抗癌药物进行了研究；这种分子在控制癌细胞行为方面具有多种功能，例如抑制细胞生长、诱导细胞凋亡和抑制侵袭。本综述的目的是全面评估褪黑素作为基于 5-FU 的化疗的辅助药物在癌症治疗中的作用。此外，我们还确定了褪黑素和 5-FU 相互作用以增强联合治疗效果的潜在共同信号通路。视频摘要。
