Melatonin as an Adjuvant to Antiangiogenic Cancer Treatments.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of biological mechanisms and preclinical concepts without new primary clinical trial data
PubMed 34209857 · doi:10.3390/cancers13133263
What was done
This review summarized the mechanistic interactions between melatonin and tumor angiogenesis, specifically outlining antiangiogenic pathways through which melatonin sensitizes cancer cells to chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative values, effect sizes, or statistical metrics. It qualitatively describes that melatonin inhibits angiogenesis across various tumor types, acts synergistically with chemotherapeutic agents to suppress angiogenesis, counteracts chemotherapy-induced pro-angiogenic factors, reverses chemotherapy resistance, and serves as a radiosensitizer to enhance oncostatic radiation effects.
Why it matters
If validated clinically, combining melatonin with standard oncology regimens could potentially overcome treatment resistance and limit compensatory angiogenesis induced by standard chemotherapy.
Limits
The abstract describes a narrative, mechanism-based review with no primary empirical data, no systematic search methodology, no quantitative metrics, and no human clinical outcome details.
Cited by
- supports Melatonin regulates angiogenesis and natural killer cell activity.