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Multiple Facets of Melatonin in Immunity: Clinical Applications

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Melatonin and Melatonergic Drugs in Clinical Practice

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Abstract

Nowadays, the effector capacity of melatonin in the immune system is indisputable. The almost ubiquitous distribution of melatonin receptors, its immune synthesis, and the effects of several immunological mediators on the melatonin production reinforce the concept of the melatonin/immune bidirectional circuit. Throughout the present chapter, we have highlighted that melatonin acts on the immune response by combined mechanisms which mainly involve the modulation of cytokines and the oxidative stress markers production. Overall, melatonin acts as an immune activator in basal or immunodepressed conditions, whereas it might exert a negative regulation under transient or chronic exacerbated immune response. Due to the variety of the melatonin immunomodulatory actions, it has been tested in extensive models. Thus, the clinical relevance of the several faces of melatonin on immune conditions such as infection, autoimmunity, vaccination, and immunosenescence as well as transplant and cancer is also reviewed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for financial support from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PI07/90175, RD06/0013/0001, and RD12/0043/0012), the PAIDI Program from the Andalusian Government (CTS160), and the Regional Government Ministry of Health (PI-0209-2010).

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  1. Bioquímica Médica y Biología Molecular-Facultad de Medicina, IBiS/Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio/CSIC/Universidad de Sevilla, Avda. Manuel Siurot s/n, Sevilla, 41013, Spain

    Patricia J. Lardone PhD, Nuria Álvarez-Sánchez PhD, Ana Rodríguez-Rodríguez PhD, Juan M. Guerrero PhD & Antonio Carrillo-Vico PhD

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  1. Patricia J. Lardone PhD
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  2. Nuria Álvarez-Sánchez PhD
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Correspondence to Patricia J. Lardone PhD .

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  1. Sri Sathya Sai Medical Educational and Research Foundation, An International Medical Sciences Research Center, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

    V. Srinivasan

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hadassah Hebrew-University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

    Amnon Brzezinski

  3. Department of Physiology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey

    Sukru Oter

  4. Department of Psychiatry Behavioral Sciences, Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, Georgia, USA

    Samuel D. Shillcutt

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Lardone, P.J., Álvarez-Sánchez, N., Rodríguez-Rodríguez, A., Guerrero, J.M., Carrillo-Vico, A. (2014). Multiple Facets of Melatonin in Immunity: Clinical Applications. In: Srinivasan, V., Brzezinski, A., Oter, S., Shillcutt, S. (eds) Melatonin and Melatonergic Drugs in Clinical Practice. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-0825-9_8

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