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Review
. 2020 Jul 17:12:1758835920931714.
doi: 10.1177/1758835920931714. eCollection 2020.

The role of melatonin in colorectal cancer treatment: a comprehensive review

Mindaugas Kvietkauskas  1 , Viktorija Zitkute  1 , Bettina Leber  1 , Kestutis Strupas  2 , Philipp Stiegler  3 , Peter Schemmer  1
Affiliations
Review

The role of melatonin in colorectal cancer treatment: a comprehensive review

Mindaugas Kvietkauskas et al. Ther Adv Med Oncol. .

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common types of cancer worldwide, known as the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths annually. Currently, multimodal treatment strategies, including surgical resection, combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, have been used as conventional treatments in patients with CRC. However, clinical outcome of advanced stage disease remains relatively discouraging, due mainly to appearance of CRC chemoresistance, toxicity, and other detrimental side effects. New strategies to overcome these limitations are essential. During the last decades, melatonin (MLT) has been shown to be a potent antiproliferative, anti-metastatic agent with cytotoxic effects on different types of human malignancies, including CRC. Hence, this comprehensive review compiles the available experimental and clinical data analyzing the effects of MLT treatment in CRC patients and its underlying molecular mechanisms.

Keywords: anticancer drug combinations; colorectal cancer; melatonin; review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
History of PubMed publications regarding MLT and cancer. Between 1981 and 2019, 539 papers have been published. Since 2009, there has been a steady increase in the number of publications. Data and graph were generated in PubMed by using the search terms [cancer(Title) AND melatonin(Title)]. MLT, melatonin.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The biosynthesis process of MLT. MLT, melatonin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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