Melatonin supplementation as a potential inhibitor of colorectal cancer: molecular mechanisms

Backgrounds and Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a prevalent disease and a major cause of mortality in the world. CRC is a heterogeneous disease both histopathologically and in term of its molecular and genetic aspects. Melatonin supplementation has beneficial effects in different cancer. The purpose of this review is to examine the effects of melatonin supplementation in molecular pathogenesis and signaling pathways of CRC. Material and Methods: Search Method: Databases including PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science were searched until September 31th, 2018. Keywords used in this study were melatonin and colorectal cancer. Finding: Multiple immunocytochemical studies reported melatonin in the intestinal mucosa where its concentration is greater than in the blood. Among various functions of melatonin its ability to control oxidative stress is widely documented. The evidence is also report that melatonin has synergistic effects with some antineoplastic drugs by enhancing the apoptotic pathway, thus chemo sensitivity can be increased by melatonin in cancer cells. and it could be added to chemotherapeutic drugs to amplify their effects. Conclusions: These findings suggest that melatonin supplementation may have a potential inhibitory role in CRC progression through different mechanism, including induction of oxidative stress and apoptosis.

Keywords:

Colorectal cancer , Melatonin , Apoptosis , Oxidative stress