Pomegranates fruits have innumerable health benefits and its implication in diseases cure have been widely recognized since ancient time. Moreover, pomegranate fruits, seeds and peels are intensively used in traditional medicine as a natural therapy. It contains numerous valuable ingredients such as flavonoids, ellagitannin, punicalagin, ellagic acid, vitamins and minerals. The principal constituents including punicalagins and ellagitannin are responsible for immeasurable health benefits due to its strong antioxidant activity. Additionally, constituents of pomegranate show health promoting effect through the modulation of physiological and biochemical pathways. Recent evidences suggested that pomegranates fruits, peels and seeds illustrate therapeutics implications in health management via inhibition of free radical effect and modulation of enzymes activity linked with diseases development and progression. In this review, we summarize the therapeutic role of pomegranate fruits, seeds and peels in the health managements based on in vitro and in vivo studies.

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), an active compound of green tea and its role in diseases cure and prevention has been proven. Its role in diseases management can be attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The anti-cancer role of this green tea compound has been confirmed in various types of cancer and is still being under explored. EGCG has been proven to possess a chemopreventive effect through inhibition of carcinogenesis process such as initiation, promotion, and progression. In addition, this catechin has proven its role in cancer management through modulating various cell signaling pathways such as regulating proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and killing of various types of cancer cells. The additive or synergistic effect of epigallocatechin with chemopreventive agents has been verified as it reduces the toxicities and enhances the anti-cancerous effects. Despite its effectiveness and safety, the implications of EGCG in cancer prevention is certainly still discussed due to a poor bioavailability. Several studies have shown the ability to overcome poor bioavailability through nanotechnology-based strategies such as encapsulation, liposome, micelles, nanoparticles and various other formulation. In this review, we encapsulate therapeutic implication of EGCG in cancer management and the mechanisms of action are discussed with an emphasis on human clinical trials.

Lung cancer is one of the most commonly reported cancers, and is known to be associated with a poor prognosis. The function of tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) in lung cancer patients is multifaceted and the literature shows conflicting roles. (I) To analyze the Th1 and Th2 cytokine levels that contribute to the differentiation of M1 and M2 macrophage populations in the serum of patients with NSCLC versus non-cancer controls; and (II) To characterize the M1 and M2 macrophage populations within TAMs in different subtypes of NSCLC compared to non-tumour tissue. The Th1 and Th2 cytokine levels were analyzed in serum using the Bio-Plex assay. In addition, TAMs subsets from nontumour and tumour tissues were analyzed using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The level of IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6 and IL-8 was found to be increased in the serum of patients with large cell carcinoma but not in other NSCLC subtypes compared to non-cancer controls. In addition, the expression of CD68 and M2 marker CD163 was found to be increased (P≤0.0001) in all NSCLC subtypes compared to non-tumour tissues. In contrast, the expression of iNOS (M1 marker) was decreased in the tumour tissue of patients with adenocarcinoma (P≤0.01) and squamous carcinoma (P≤0.05) but not in large cell carcinoma compared to non-tumour tissue. The results of this study indicate that NSCLC might have the ability to alter phenotype within the lung tumour areas in the local environment (TAMs) but not in the bloodstream in the systemic environment (serum) except for large cell carcinoma.

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