]> 2026-04-12T05:40:01-07:00 Melatonin 0 en Melatonin is considered to have a low toxicity level, with no known toxic side effects. It is generally regarded as safe for use in the dosages typically administered for both sleep disorders and experimental cancer treatment protocols. 2024-12-25T20:37:16Z 2460670.359213 Melatonin 0 [2,"smw-datavalue-wikipage-property-invalid-title","Has original text","This is a naturally occurring hormone secreted by the pineal gland that regulates the\nbody's diurnal rhythm. It is commonly used for the treatment of jet lag and for insomnia.\nIt is readily available in any health food store and most drug stores. Its role in cancer\ntreatment has been based on the assumption that it boosts the immune system, with the\ncurrent hypothesis being that it augments the activity of T-helper cells. It recently also\nhas been shown to inhibit angiogenesis (225). It may also have direct cytotoxic effects on\nsome types of cancer cells, notably melanoma cells. It has no known toxic side effects.\n\nClinical research on the use of melatonin for cancer treatment has been done primarily in\nItaly, where it has been used either as a single agent after radiation treatments, or in\ncombination with various chemotherapy or immunotherapy regimens, most frequently\ninterleukin-2. Part of the rationale for such combinations is that it decreases the side\neffects of the chemotherapy, especially with respect to blood counts. One of the clinical\n32\n\nstudies (226) randomly assigned 30 GBM patients either to radiation alone (n=16) or to\nradiation concomitant with 20 mg\/day of melatonin (n=14). Melatonin was continued\nafter completion of the radiation. Survival was significantly greater for subjects receiving\nthe melatonin. In terms of one-year survival rates, 6\/14 patients receiving melatonin were\nalive, while only 1\/16 patients without melatonin was alive.\n\nThis GBM study involved a relatively small number of patients, so that the effects\nshould be considered tentative until a larger study is conducted. However, comparable\neffects have been reported in a similar design for the use of melatonin with advanced\nlung cancer (227). Like the GBM study, a substantial increase in survival rate occurred\nfor the patients receiving melatonin.\n\nTo date there have been at least a dozen phase-2 clinical trials using melatonin either\nalone or in combination with other agents and five phase-3 trials involving random\nassignment of subjects to melatonin versus some type of control group. The majority of\nthese has been relatively small and has involved patients in the terminal stages of their\ndisease, which is perhaps why American oncologists have largely ignored them.\n\nHowever, some trials have been much larger and seem to leave little doubt that melatonin\nsignificantly increases the efficacy of chemotherapy. One of the most extensive\nrandomized clinical trials involved 250 patients with advanced metastatic cancer of\nvarious types (228). Patients were randomly assigned to chemotherapy alone (using\ndifferent chemotherapies for different types of cancer) or chemotherapy plus 20 mg of\nmelatonin per day. Objective tumor regression occurred in 42 (including 6 complete\nregressions) of 124 patients receiving melatonin but in only 19\/126 (with zero complete\nregressions) of the control patients. A comparable difference occurred for survival rate:\n63\/124 of those receiving melatonin were alive after one year while only 29\/126 were\nalive of those receiving chemotherapy alone. A different trial, involving 100 patients with\nmetastatic non small-cell lung cancer (229), compared chemotherapy alone with\nchemotherapy in combination with melatonin. With chemotherapy alone, 9 of 51 patients\nhad a partial tumor regression, while 17 of 49 chemo + melatonin patients had either a\ncomplete (n=2) or partial (n=15) regression. Twenty percent of the chemo-alone patients\nsurvived for one year and zero for two years, while the corresponding numbers for chemo\n+ melatonin were 40% and 30%. Melatonin not only increased the efficacy of\nchemotherapy, but also significantly reduced its toxicity.\n\nThe most extensive report included 370 patients, subdivided into three different types of\ncancer: lung cancer (non-small cell), colorectal cancer, and gastric cancer (230).\nAggregated over all three types, the response rate (percentage of patients with tumor\nregression) was 36% for those treated with chemotherapy and melatonin, versus 20% for\nthose treated with chemotherapy alone. The corresponding two-year survival rates were\n25% vs. 13%. Melatonin\u2019s benefits occurred for all three cancer types that were included.\nMoreover, patients receiving melatonin had fewer side effects.\n33\n\nThese trials leave little doubt that the effects of melatonin are of clinical significance.\nMoreover, a recent study has shown that using multiple components of the pineal gland\nsecretions instead of melatonin alone enhances clinical effectiveness still further (231).\nOne caveat about the use of melatonin is that a recent randomized trial compared\nradiation treatment for metastatic brain cancer with and without melatonin and found no\nbenefit of the melatonin (232). Given that almost all of the supporting evidence for the\nuse of melatonin has come from its addition to chemotherapy, it is possible that it offers\nno benefit when added to radiation, perhaps because of its strong antioxidant properties."] Melatonin# ERRa3f62c6665776505f0db7c26c19aebf1 0 [2,"smw-datavalue-wikipage-property-invalid-title","Has Usefulness Explanation","* '''Immune System Enhancement''': Augmentation of T-helper cell activity, crucial for targeting cancer cells.\n* '''Inhibition of Angiogenesis''': Reduction in blood vessel formation essential for tumor growth.\n* '''Direct Cytotoxic Effects''': Induction of apoptosis in cancer cells, including glioblastoma.\n* '''Reduction of Chemotherapy Toxicity''': Mitigation of chemotherapy side effects, improving tolerability and adherence to treatment schedules.\n* '''Modulation of Tumor Metabolism''': Affects energy production pathways in cancer cells, making them more susceptible to treatments."] Melatonin# ERR0de0b09fdf871942cb9b8a10a8978dce 0 [2,"smw-datavalue-wikipage-property-invalid-title","Has clinical trial explanation","Melatonin has been part of numerous clinical trials, particularly in Italy, often in combination with chemotherapy or immunotherapy. The outcomes have shown potential benefits including increased survival rates and tumor regression:\n\n* In a study with 30 GBM patients, those treated with melatonin in addition to radiation therapy showed significantly higher survival rates compared to those receiving only radiation.\n* Larger trials involving various types of advanced metastatic cancers have reported that melatonin enhanced the efficacy of chemotherapy, leading to higher rates of tumor regression and increased survival.\n* Despite these positive findings, the studies often involved small sample sizes or patients in terminal stages, which might influence broader clinical acceptance."] Melatonin# ERR3019b4979f53631ee3912d6416218f93 Has treatment name 102 en Has treatment name