{"entity":{"id":"melatonin-cancer","kind":"technology","name":"Melatonin as a cancer adjunct","aka":[],"tldr":"Melatonin helps some people sleep and is safe at usual doses, but the claim that high-dose melatonin improves survival rests on a series of small unblinded trials from one group that has never been reproduced elsewhere. It is not a cancer treatment.","summary":"Melatonin, the pineal hormone that signals night, has antioxidant, immunomodulatory and antiproliferative effects in laboratory models. A 2012 meta-analysis of randomised trials of 20 mg melatonin alongside chemotherapy reported improved one-year survival and reduced toxicity, but almost all included trials came from a single Italian group, were unblinded and small, and independent trials have not replicated the survival effect. Better-conducted trials of melatonin for sleep, delirium and fatigue in cancer patients are mixed, with some benefit for sleep quality and little for fatigue. Low-dose melatonin is a reasonable short-term sleep aid in survivors when behavioural therapy is unavailable. High-dose melatonin as an anticancer adjunct is unproven; it may interact with sedatives and anticoagulants.","status":"phase-2","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin","links":[{"label":"Melatonin as adjuvant cancer care with and without chemotherapy: systematic review and meta-analysis (Integr Cancer Ther 2012)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1534735411425484"},{"label":"MSK About Herbs: Melatonin","url":"https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/melatonin"}],"tags":["complementary","supportive-care","evidence:insufficient"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"],"technologies":["sleep-circadian-interventions","integrative-oncology","dietary-supplements-treatment-interactions"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-reproducibility","b-misinformation"],"keyPapers":["paper-seely-integr-cancer-ther"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Melatonin acts on MT1 and MT2 receptors and as a free-radical scavenger, with circadian and putative oncostatic effects observed mainly in vitro and in rodents.","strengths":["Safe and cheap","Plausible for sleep disturbance"],"limitations":["Survival trials from a single unblinded source","No independent replication","Fatigue trials negative or mixed"]},"route":"/technologies/melatonin-cancer/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"nutrition-lifestyle","kind":"section","name":"Diet, Exercise & Lifestyle","route":"/fronts/nutrition-lifestyle/"},{"id":"supportive-care","kind":"section","name":"Supportive Care & Survivorship","route":"/fronts/supportive-care/"}],"technology":[{"id":"dietary-supplements-treatment-interactions","kind":"technology","name":"Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms","route":"/technologies/dietary-supplements-treatment-interactions/"},{"id":"integrative-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Evidence-based integrative oncology","route":"/technologies/integrative-oncology/"},{"id":"sleep-circadian-interventions","kind":"technology","name":"Sleep and circadian interventions in cancer","route":"/technologies/sleep-circadian-interventions/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-misinformation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Misinformation and unproven therapies","route":"/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/"},{"id":"b-reproducibility","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Preclinical results do not reproduce","route":"/bottlenecks/b-reproducibility/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-seely-integr-cancer-ther","kind":"paper","name":"Melatonin as adjuvant cancer care with and without chemotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials","route":"/key-papers/paper-seely-integr-cancer-ther/"}]}}