ArticleBreast care (Basel, Switzerland)2014
Urinary excretion of melatonin and association with breast cancer: meta-analysis and review of the literature.
Article in Breast care (Basel, Switzerland), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multi ancestry genome wide association meta analysis of urinary aMT6s levels.Scientific reports · 2026Pooled it
- Melatonin and health: an umbrella review of health outcomes and biological mechanisms of action.BMC medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin level and breast cancer risk: systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2017Pooled it
- Ancestry-specific genetic effects on urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin: a multi-ancestry GWAS meta-analysis.Research square · 2025Article
- A narrative review of sleep and breast cancer: from epidemiology to mechanisms.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2025Review
- Significance of Melatonin in the Regulation of Circadian Rhythms and Disease Management.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Review
- Melatonin: a modulator in metabolic rewiring in T-cell malignancies.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Review
- The role of MTNR1B polymorphism on circadian rhythm-related cancer: A UK Biobank cohort study.International journal of cancer · 2022Article
- Protective role of melatonin in breast cancer: what we can learn from women with blindness.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2022Review
- Sleep Disruption and Cancer: Chicken or the Egg?Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Review
- Membrane Melatonin Receptors Activated Cell Signaling in Physiology and Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Recurrent high-impact mutations at cognate structural positions in class A G protein-coupled receptors expressed in tumors.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Melatonin in Cancer Treatment: Current Knowledge and Future Opportunities.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Melatonin and its ubiquitous anticancer effects.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2019Review
- Sleep and circadian disruption and incident breast cancer risk: An evidence-based and theoretical review.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2018Review
- Melatonin and Hippo Pathway: Is There Existing Cross-Talk?International journal of molecular sciences · 2017Article
- Night Shift Work and Risk of Breast Cancer.Current environmental health reports · 2017Review
- Melatonin-induced KiSS1 expression inhibits triple-negative breast cancer cell invasiveness.Oncology letters · 2017Article
- Melatonin for the prevention and treatment of cancer.Oncotarget · 2017Review
- Urinary Melatonin in Relation to Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk According to Melatonin 1 Receptor Status.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMelatonin is an endocrine hormone secreted by the pineal gland during night hours that provides several biological functions in the circadian rhythm of humans. Due to anti-estrogenic properties, melatonin is considered to exhibit a protective role against the development of breast cancer (BC). Moreover, disruption of melatonin production through environmental influences, such as night work, is assumed to be a risk factor for BC. MATERIALS AND
methodsWe reviewed recent findings concerning biological effects of melatonin on BC and conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between melatonin and BC incidence. In random and fixed effects statistical models, concentrations (tertiles, quartiles) of the primary urinary metabolite of melatonin, 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s), were tested for the assumption that women with the highest values would exhibit a lower risk of BC.
resultsStatistical analysis of data from 5 prospective case-control studies indicates an inverse association between BC risk and the highest levels of urinary aMT6s. This effect seems to be influenced by lag intervals between aMT6s collection and the occurrence of BC, timing and methods of urine sampling, as well as genetic and environmental factors.
conclusionOn the basis of the results of our meta-analysis, melatonin is likely to affect BC occurrence in women. However, methodological dissonances may require further studies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.