An early stage study conducted at the
Henry Ford Hospital has shown that melatonin, a hormone that is
released naturally in the body to regulate sleep, could potentially
be used to treat triple negative breast cancer. The researchers
observed that mice treated with melatonin had tumors that
significantly decreased in size, while the untreated mice suffered
substantial tumor growth in the 21-day study. The reason melatonin
seems to work is because it acts as an antioxidant and prevents
tumors from growing a blood supply from the body. These promising
results suggest that more basic research needs to be done in order to figure
out how melatonin impacts blood vessel growth in various types of
cancers before clinical testing on humans can start.
Reference:
Henry Ford Health System. (2014, January 28). Melatonin shows potential to slow tumor growth in certain breast cancers. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 4, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140128103117.htm
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