Publication: Melatonin and cancer: a polyhedral network where the source matters
Authors
Tomas-Loba, Antonia ; Bonmatí Carrión, María de los Ángeles
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Publisher
MDPI
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10020210
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
© 2021 by the authors. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This document is the Published Manuscript, version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Antioxidants. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10020210
Abstract
Melatonin is one of the most phylogenetically conserved signals in biology. Although
its original function was probably related to its antioxidant capacity, this indoleamine has been
“adopted” by multicellular organisms as the “darkness signal” when secreted in a circadian manner
and is acutely suppressed by light at night by the pineal gland. However, melatonin is also produced
by other tissues, which constitute its extrapineal sources. Apart from its undisputed chronobiotic
function, melatonin exerts antioxidant, immunomodulatory, pro-apoptotic, antiproliferative, and
anti-angiogenic effects, with all these properties making it a powerful antitumor agent. Indeed,
this activity has been demonstrated to be mediated by interfering with various cancer hallmarks,
and different epidemiological studies have also linked light at night (melatonin suppression) with a
higher incidence of different types of cancer. In 2007, the World Health Organization classified night
shift work as a probable carcinogen due to circadian disruption, where melatonin plays a central role.
Our aim is to review, from a global perspective, the role of melatonin both from pineal and extrapineal
origin, as well as their possible interplay, as an intrinsic factor in the incidence, development, and
progression of cancer. Particular emphasis will be placed not only on those mechanisms related
to melatonin’s antioxidant nature but also on the recently described novel roles of melatonin in
microbiota and epigenetic regulation.
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Melatonin , Cancer , Antitumor , Antioxidant , Circadian , Chronobiotic , Pineal , Extrapineal , Immunomodulatory , Light at night
Citation
Antioxidants, 2021, Vol. 10, Issue 2 : 210
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Este ítem está sujeto a una licencia Creative Commons. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/