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Five years survival in metastatic non-small
cell lung cancer patients treated with chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy and
melatonin: a randomized trial
Lissoni P, Chilelli M, Villa S, Cerizza L, Tancini G
Divisione di Radioterapia Oncologica, Ospedale San Gerardo,
Monza, Milan, Italy.
p.lissoni@hsgerardo.org
Numerous experimental data have documented the oncostatic properties of
melatonin.
In addition to its potential direct antitumor activity, melatonin has proved to
modulate the effects of cancer chemotherapy, by enhancing its therapeutic
efficacy and reducing its toxicity.
The increase in chemotherapeutic efficacy by melatonin may depend on two main
mechanisms, namely prevention of chemotherapy-induced lymphocyte damage and its
antioxidant effect, which has been proved to amplify cytotoxic actions of the
chemotherapeutic agents against cancer cells.
However, the clinical results available at present with melatonin and
chemotherapy in the treatment of human neoplasms are generally limited to the
evaluation of 1-year survival in patients with very advanced disease.
Thus, the present study was performed to assess the 5-year survival results in
metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients obtained with a chemotherapeutic
regimen consisting of cisplatin and etoposide, with or without the concomitant
administration of melatonin (20 mg/day orally in the evening).
The study included 100 consecutive patients who were randomized to receive
chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy and melatonin.
Both the overall tumor regression rate and the 5-year survival results were
significantly higher in patients concomitantly treated with melatonin.
In particular, no patient treated with chemotherapy alone was alive after 2
years, whereas a 5-year survival was achieved in three of 49 (6%) patients
treated with chemotherapy and melatonin.
Moreover, chemotherapy was better tolerated in patients treated with
melatonin.
This study confirms, in a considerable number of patients and for a long
follow-up period, the possibility to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy in
terms of both survival and quality of life by a concomitant administration of
melatonin.
This suggests a new biochemotherapeutic strategy in the treatment of human
neoplasms.
PMID: 12823608 [PubMed - in process]
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12823608&dopt=Abstract
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