Melatonin exhibits antitumour activities in the treatment of many human
cancers. In the present study, we aimed to improve the therapeutic potential of
melatonin in
gastric cancer. Our results confirmed that
melatonin dose-dependently suppressed the proliferation and
necrosis, and increased G0/G1 phase arrest, apoptosis, autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. The Ras-Raf-MAPK signalling pathway was activated in cells after
melatonin treatment.
RNA-seq was performed and GSEA analysis further confirmed that many down-regulated genes in
melatonin-treated cells were associated with proliferation. However, GSEA analysis also indicated that many pathways related to
metastasis were increased after
melatonin treatment. Subsequently, combinatorial treatment was conducted to further investigate the therapeutic outcomes of
melatonin. A combination of
melatonin and
thapsigargin increased the apoptotic rate and G0/G1 cell cycle arrest when compared to treatment with
melatonin alone.
Melatonin in combination with
thapsigargin triggered the increased expression of Bip, LC3-II, phospho-Erk1/2 and phospho-p38 MAPK. In addition,
STF-083010, an IRE1a inhibitor, further exacerbated the decrease in survival rate induced by combinatorial treatment with
melatonin and
thapsigargin. Collectively,
melatonin was effective in
gastric cancer treatment by modifying ER stress.