Melatonin
Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine), a multitasking molecule, is secreted from the pineal gland at night under normal light or dark conditions.
Too much light and it is not made.
It is not made by sleep. But by dark.
Apart from circadian regulations, melatonin also has antioxidant, anti-aging, immuno-modulation and anticancer properties.
It fights multiple cancer cells by multiple pathways.
You could accurately call melatonin a "cancer-fighting" hormone.
How does melatonin "fight" cancer? From epidemiological research, some postulated mechanisms are that melatonin has significant apoptotic, angiogenic, oncostatic and anti-proliferative effects on various oncological cells (diverse types of cancers).
Meaning, melatonin is protective against multiple cancer cell lines.
If you put in the words "melatonin" and "cancer" in PubMed, it has anti-cancer articles against multiple cancer cell types.
Just a few of its anticancer mechanisms are that it promotes "cancer cell death" (stimulation of apoptosis) and that is the big issue with cancer cells, their "immortality".
Melatonin receptors (MT1 and MT2) stimulation, causes this. They are a hormone and they signal melatonin receptors.
PS these receptors are vulnerable to endocrine disruption, like other hormone receptors.
Melatonin also blocks angiogenesis, adverse epigenetic alterations and metastasis.
Metastases are how cancer kills. Melatonin blocks met formation.
But you do not need a lot to accomplish this. And certainly for cancer protection in general, if you do not have cancer, you do not need a lot.
Dr. David Blask (that I lectured with at A4M's Endocrinology Module 2 in 2021) demonstrated in an NCI & NIH sponsored study, that under 1 mg of OTC melatonin is powerful enough to fight cancer. He used 75 micrograms in that study.
So the dose range is a tad under one mg a night or less, to up to 40 mg if fighting stage 4 cancer.
Some docs are going higher but the world's expert on melatonin, Dr. Blask, warns we do not have research on it at these dosages. Hormones do not act like carcinogens. More is not necessarily better but may, in fact, downregulate the system.
Researching, connecting the dots in meaningful ways & sharing with you makes me Happy! I love connecting live over Zoom with many of you in my monthly membership webinars. Not a part of the Live or Pro Level membership? Learn more here: Berkson Health Membership Groups
Reference:
Melatonin and its ubiquitous anticancer effects. Mol Cell Biochem. 2019 Dec;462(1-2):133-155. doi: 10.1007/s11010-019-03617-5. Epub 2019 Aug 26. PMID: 31451998.