Melatonin and Curcumin for Radiation Dermatitis

Anonymous

Melatonin and Curcumin for Radiation Dermatitis

Fallleaves

Just wanted to mention that there have been two randomized controlled trials (small) that showed that melatonin and curcumin reduced radiation dermatitis in patients undergoing radiation therapy.

Melatonin for Prevention of Breast Radiation Dermatitis: A Phase II, Prospective, Double-Blind Randomized Trial.

"The occurrence of grade 1/2 acute radiation dermatitis was significantly lower (59% vs. 90%, P = 0.038) in the melatonin group. Women older than 50 had significantly less dermatitis than younger patients (56% vs. 100%, P = 0.021). The maximal radiation dermatitis in the study group was grade 2 in 15% of the treated patients. Patients treated with melatonin-containing emulsion experienced significantly reduced radiation dermatitis compared to patients receiving placebo."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27228641

Curcumin for radiation dermatitis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of thirty breast cancer patients.

"Standard pooled variances t test showed that curcumin reduced RDS at end of treatment compared to placebo (mean RDS = 2.6 vs. 3.4; P = 0.008). Fisher's exact test revealed that fewer curcumin-treated patients had moist desquamation (28.6% vs. 87.5%; P = 0.002). No significant differences were observed between arms for demographics, compliance, radiation skin dose, redness, pain or symptoms. In conclusion, oral curcumin, 6.0 g daily during radiotherapy, reduced the severity of radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23745991

I'm wondering if they used plain curcumin. The newer formulations (with bioperine) are 2000% more effective, so you can get away with taking a lot less. (Guess that's a question for the researcher)

Melatonin and curcumin are also being studied for their anti-cancer effects.

edited to add: This (cell) study showed that pretreatment with melatonin could make radiation more effective.

Melatonin sensitizes human breast cancer cells to ionizing radiation by downregulating proteins involved in double-strand DNA break repair.

"Pretreatment of breast cancer cells with melatonin 1 wk before radiation led to a significantly greater decrease of MCF-7 cell proliferation compared with radiation alone. Melatonin pretreatment before radiation also decreased G2 -M phase arrest compared with irradiation alone, with a higher percentage of cells in the G0 -G1 phase and a lower percentage of cells in S phase. Radiation alone diminished RAD51 and DNA-protein kinase (PKcs) mRNA expression, two main proteins involved in double-strand DNA break repair. Treatment with melatonin for 7 days before radiation led to a significantly greater decrease in RAD51 and DNA-PKcs mRNA expression compared with radiation alone. Our findings suggest that melatonin pretreatment before radiation sensitizes breast cancer cells to the ionizing effects of radiation by decreasing cell proliferation, inducing cell cycle arrest and downregulating proteins involved in double-strand DNA break repair."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25623566

(Alonzo-Gonzalez, 2015)