Clinical uses of melatonin: evaluation of human trials on cancer treatment.

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia González González ◽  
Noemi Rueda Revilla ◽  
Emilio J, Sánchez-Barceló

Melatonin is a molecule with numerous properties, which are applicable to the treatment of different types of cancers. Experimental in vitro and in vivo studies conducted with human cancer cells or animal models of carcinogenesis, have shown that melatonin enhances apoptosis and inhibits cell proliferation of several human cancer cells, reduces tumor growth rate and its metastases, reduces the side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, decreases the resistance to standard cancer treatments, and potentiates the therapeutic effects of other conventional therapies. These satisfactory results obtained from “bench” need to be studied in clinical trials to verify whether they are applicable to “bedside”. In this article we review the clinical trials carried out in the last 25 years which are focused on the therapeutic use of melatonin in cancer treatment. We conclude that melatonin is an effective adjuvant drug to practically any conventional cancer therapy since it is capable of improving the quality of life of patients, by normalizing sleep and alleviating general symptoms associated with tumor disease and treatment such as pain, asthenia, anorexia, etc. In the particular case of hormone-dependent breast cancer, melatonin's antiestrogenic properties make this indoleamine ideally suited for use in association with other synthetic anti-estrogen agents, as melatonin increases their efficacy while reducing their undesirable effects. Furthermore, melatonin could be an appropriate co-treatment for preventive treatment of breast cancer in people with elevated risk for this kind of neoplasia.

Author(s):  
Stepan Pilyo ◽  
Оlexandr Kozachenko ◽  
Victor Zhirnov ◽  
Maryna Kachaeva ◽  
Oleksandr Kobzar ◽  
...  

A series of new 2-aryl 5-sulfonyl-1,3-oxazole-4-carboxylates for NCI anticancer screening protocol against 60 cancer cell lines were synthesized. Screening was performed in vitro on 60 cell lines of lungs, kidneys, CNS, ovaries, prostate, and breast cancer, leukemia, and melanoma. Methyl 5-benzylsulfonyl-2-phenyl-1,3-oxazole-4-carboxylate 15 exhibited potent and broad range of cytotoxic activity against tested human cancer cells with average GI50, TGI, and LC50 values of 5.37·10-6, 1.29·10-5 and 3.6·10-5 mol/L respectively. Molecular docking was used to evaluate the possible interaction of compound 15 with tubulin as well as a complex formation with CDK2.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (16) ◽  
pp. 8372
Author(s):  
Ana María Zárate ◽  
Christian Espinosa-Bustos ◽  
Simón Guerrero ◽  
Angélica Fierro ◽  
Felipe Oyarzún-Ampuero ◽  
...  

The Smoothened (SMO) receptor is the most druggable target in the Hedgehog (HH) pathway for anticancer compounds. However, SMO antagonists such as vismodegib rapidly develop drug resistance. In this study, new SMO antagonists having the versatile purine ring as a scaffold were designed, synthesised, and biologically tested to provide an insight to their mechanism of action. Compound 4s was the most active and the best inhibitor of cell growth and selectively cytotoxic to cancer cells. 4s induced cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, a reduction in colony formation and downregulation of PTCH and GLI1 expression. BODIPY-cyclopamine displacement assays confirmed 4s is a SMO antagonist. In vivo, 4s strongly inhibited tumour relapse and metastasis of melanoma cells in mice. In vitro, 4s was more efficient than vismodegib to induce apoptosis in human cancer cells and that might be attributed to its dual ability to function as a SMO antagonist and apoptosis inducer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 5176-5183
Author(s):  
Ichraf Slimani ◽  
Serap Şahin-Bölükbaşı ◽  
Mustafa Ulu ◽  
Enes Evren ◽  
Nevin Gürbüz ◽  
...  

A series of benzimidazolium salts and their [RhCl(NHC)(COD)] complexes were synthesized. All compounds were screened for in vitro cytotoxic activities against a panel of human cancer cells (HT-29 colon, Ishikawa endometrial, U-87 glioblastoma) using the MTT assay for 48 h incubation time.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishita Matai ◽  
Abhay Sachdev ◽  
P. Gopinath

Herein, we report the development of a poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer based multicomponent therapeutic agent forin vitrocancer therapy applications.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1110
Author(s):  
Minh Thanh Vu ◽  
Dinh Tien Dung Nguyen ◽  
Ngoc Hoi Nguyen ◽  
Van Thu Le ◽  
The Nam Dao ◽  
...  

Paclitaxel (PTX) and anastrozole (ANA) have been frequently applied in breast cancer treatment. PTX is well-known for its anti-proliferative effect meanwhile ANA has just been discovered to act as an estrogen receptor α (ERα) ligand. The combination therapy of PTX and ANA is expected to improve treating efficiency, as ANA would act as a ligand binding with the ERα gene expressed in breast cancer cells and thereafter PTX would inhibit the division and cause death to those cancer cells. In this study, liposome-based nanocarriers (LP) were developed for co-encapsulation of PTX and ANA to improve the efficacy of the combined drugs in an Estrogen receptor-responsive breast cancer study. PTX-ANA co-loaded LP was prepared using thin lipid film hydration method and was characterized for morphology, size, zeta potential, drug encapsulation and in vitro drug release. In addition, cell proliferation (WST assay) and IN Cell Analyzer were used for in vitro cytotoxicity studies on a human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Results showed that the prepared LP and PTX-ANA-LP had spherical vesicles, with a mean particle size of 170.1 ± 13.5 nm and 189.0 ± 22.1 nm, respectively. Controlled and sustained releases were achieved at 72 h for both of the loaded drugs. The in vitro cytotoxicity study found that the combined drugs showed higher toxicity than each single drug separately. These results suggested a new approach to breast cancer treatment, consisting of the combination therapy of PTX and ANA in liposomes based on ER response.


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