Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 May;33(5):2477-2492.
doi: 10.1007/s10787-025-01751-9. Epub 2025 Apr 22.

Multifaceted roles of melatonin in oncology: an insight into its therapeutic potential in cancer management

Hossein Maghsoudi #  1   2 , Farhad Sheikhnia #  1   2 , Nooshin Hajmalek  3 , Fatemeh Dadash Gholipour  3   4 , Shahriar Alipour  1   2 , Mansour Ghorbanpour  5 , Sara Farzanegan  6 , Seyed Mostafa Mir  7 , Mohammad Yousef Memar  8
Affiliations
Review

Multifaceted roles of melatonin in oncology: an insight into its therapeutic potential in cancer management

Hossein Maghsoudi et al. Inflammopharmacology. 2025 May.

Abstract

Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide. The treatment of cancer has become increasing complex. Current treatment options for cancer include surgical resection, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, nanomedicine, and immunotherapy. Recent experimental and clinical studies have provided substantial evidence supporting the potential use of melatonin as a preventive and therapeutic agent in oncology. Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine), a pleiotropic and multitasking molecule, is secreted from the pineal gland during the night under normal light-dark conditions. Beyond its role in circadian regulation, melatonin exhibits antioxidant, anti-aging, immunomodulatory, and anti-cancer properties. Melatonin exerts significant apoptotic, angiogenic, oncostatic, and anti-proliferative effects on a variety of cancer cells. This review discusses the influence of melatonin on cancer cells through mechanisms involving cell cycle regulation, stimulation of apoptosis, autophagy induction, epigenetic modification, and transcriptional regulation.

Keywords: Cancer management; Melatonin; Oncology; Therapeutic potential.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interest: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

References

    1. Acuña-Castroviejo D, Escames G, Venegas C, Díaz-Casado ME, Lima-Cabello E, López LC et al (2014) Extrapineal melatonin: sources, regulation, and potential functions. Cell Mol Life Sci 71(16):2997–3025 - PubMed - PMC - DOI
    1. Aftab A, Shahzad S, Hussain HMJ, Khan R, Irum S, Tabassum S (2019) CDKN2A/P16INK4A variants association with breast cancer and their in-silico analysis. Breast Cancer 26(1):11–28 - PubMed - DOI
    1. Ahmadi S, Taghizadieh M, Mehdizadehfar E, Hasani A, Fard JK, Feizi H et al (2024) Gut microbiota in neurological diseases: melatonin plays an important regulatory role. Biomed Pharm 174:116487 - DOI
    1. Al-Ansari N, Samuel SM, Büsselberg D (2024) Unveiling the protective role of melatonin in osteosarcoma: current knowledge and limitations. Biomolecules 14(2):145 - PubMed - PMC - DOI
    1. Alonso-González C, Menéndez-Menéndez J, González-González A, González A, Cos S, Martínez-Campa C (2018) Melatonin enhances the apoptotic effects and modulates the changes in gene expression induced by docetaxel in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. Int J Oncol 52(2):560–70 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources