Ficus carica and bone health: a systematic review

Ficus carica, a native plant to the Middle East and Western Asia, is of high value in folk medicine. The therapeutic potential of Ficus carica has led to the extensive studies in recent years, focusing on evaluating and validating its pharmacological effect. The present systematic review summarizes the effectiveness of Ficus carica on promoting bone health focusing on osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis via mineral contents and RANKL pathway. The search was done with Medline via Ebscohost, Scopus and Google Scholar databases to obtain relevant articles published between 1946 and December 2016. The main inclusion criteria were research articles published in English that reported effect of Ficus carica on bone health. The literature search returned 716 potentially relevant articles, whereby 5 met the inclusion criteria. This systematic review concludes Ficus carica plays an important role in the promotion of bone health and can be a potential pharmaceutical product in the future

Modulation of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition Signaling Pathways by Olea Europaea and Its Active Compounds

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a significant dynamic process that causes changes in the phenotype of epithelial cells, changing them from their original phenotype to the mesenchymal cell phenotype. This event can be observed during wound healing process, fibrosis and cancer. EMT-related diseases are usually caused by inflammation that eventually leads to tissue remodeling in the damaged tissue. Prolonged inflammation causes long-term EMT activation that can lead to tissue fibrosis or cancer. Due to activation of EMT by its signaling pathway, therapeutic approaches that modulate that pathway should be explored. Olea europaea (OE) is well-known for its anti-inflammatory effects and abundant beneficial active compounds. These properties are presumed to modulate EMT events. This article reviews recent evidence of the effects of OE and its active compounds on EMT events and EMT-related diseases. Following evidence from the literature, it was shown that OE could modulate TGFβ/SMAD, AKT, ERK, and Wnt/β-catenin pathways in EMT due to a potent active compound that is present therein