Hypotheses: Melatonin/steroid combination contraceptives will prevent breast cancer

Summary The use of the conventional combination oral contraceptives (containing ethinyl-estradiol and a progestin) is associated with reduced risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer. However, prolonged use of these pills before first term pregnancy apparently increases the risk of pre menopausal breast cancer. We propose that the pineal gland hormone melatonin, combined with a progestin, as a new and novel oral contraceptive combination might prevent breast cancer in long term users. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that women have a propensity to develop breast cancer which correlates with number of ovulatory cycles over their lifetime. In evolution, the phylogenetic point at which women became sensitive to breast cancer evolved at a transfer point of the mechanism of ovulation from seasonal ovulation, which is still common in many mammalian species, to the current human pattern of continuous ovulatory cycles. We suggest that melatonin/ovariansteroid contraceptive will restore the lost mechanism of endogenous anovulation, and thus, by preventing continuous epithelial breast cell proliferation, will reduce the risk of breast cancer in long-term users.