The primary goal of this paper is to summarise current evidence on social relations and health, specifically how social integration and social support are related to health behaviors and health outcomes, using results from published reviews. Our analysis revealed that social relations are beneficial for health behaviors such as chronic illness self-management and decreased suicidal tendency. The salutary effects of general measures of social relations (e.g. being validated, being cared for, etc.) on health behaviors (e.g. healthy diet, physical activity, smoking, alcohol abuse) are weaker, but specific measures of social relations targeting corresponding health behaviors are more predictive. There is growing evidence that social relations are predictive of mortality and cardiovascular disease, and social relations play an equally protective role against both the incidence and progression of cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, evidence was mixed for the association between social relations and cancer. We discuss these findings and potential areas for future research such as other dimensions of social relations, support-receiver interactions, and observer ratings of social relations.

The mortality and morbidity rates of pancreatic cancer are high because of its extremely invasive and metastatic nature. Its lack of symptoms, late diagnosis and chemo–resistance and the ineffective treatment modalities warrant the development of new chemo–therapeutic agents for pancreatic cancer. Agents from medicinal plants have demonstrated therapeutic benefits in various human cancers. Nimbolide, an active molecule isolated from Azadirachta indica, has been reported to exhibit several medicinal properties. This study assessed the anticancer properties of nimbolide against pancreatic cancer. Our data reveal that nimbolide induces excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby regulating both apoptosis and autophagy in pancreatic cancer cells. Experiments with the autophagy inhibitors 3-methyladenine and chloroquine diphosphate salt and the apoptosis inhibitor z-VAD-fmk demonstrated that nimbolide-mediated ROS generation inhibited proliferation (through reduced PI3K/AKT/mTOR and ERK signaling) and metastasis (through decreased EMT, invasion, migration and colony forming abilities) via mitochondrial-mediated apoptotic cell death but not via autophagy. In vivo experiments also demonstrated that nimbolide was effective in inhibiting pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis. Overall, our data suggest that nimbolide can serve as a potential chemo–therapeutic agent for pancreatic cancer.

INTRODUCTIONThe lack of efficient treatment options for pancreatic cancer highlights the critical need for the development of novel and effective chemotherapeutic agents. The medicinal properties found in plants have been used to treat many different illnesses including cancers. This study focuses on the anticancer effects of gedunin, a natural compound isolated from Azadirachta indica.METHODSAnti–proliferative effect of gedunin on pancreatic cancer cells was assessed using MTS assay. We used matrigel invasion assay, scratch assay, and soft agar colony formation assay to measure the anti–metastatic potential of gedunin. Immunoblotting was performed to analyze the effect of gedunin on the expression of key proteins involved in pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis. Gedunin induced apoptosis was measured using flow cytometric analysis. To further validate, xenograft studies with HPAC cells were performed.RESULTSGedunin treatment is highly effective in inducing death of pancreatic cancer cells via intrinsic and extrinsic mediated apoptosis. Our data further indicates that gedunin inhibited metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells by decreasing their EMT, invasive, migratory and colony formation capabilities. Gedunin treatment also inhibited sonic hedgehog signaling pathways. Further, experiments with recombinant sonic hedgehog protein and Gli inhibitor (Gant-61) demonstrated that gedunin induces its anti–metastatic effect through inhibition of sonic hedgehog signaling. The anti–cancer effect of gedunin was further validated using xenograft mouse model.CONCLUSIONOverall, our data suggests that gedunin could serve as a potent anticancer agent against pancreatic cancers.