Regulation of deregulated cell signaling pathways by pomegranate in different cancers: Re-interpretation of knowledge gaps

Pomegranate has attracted overwhelming appreciation as a highly nutritional food for health improvement and treatment of various diseases. Based on the exciting insights gleaned from decades of research, it seems exciting to note that pomegranate and its bioactive components show high-quality pharmacological properties. Pomegranate has been shown to be effective against different cancers in xenografted mice. However, realistically, we still have incomplete understanding of the true potential of pomegranate as versatile regulator of deregulated oncogenic transduction cascades in different cancers. In this review I will exclusively focus on modulation of oncogenic signaling cascades by pomegranate or its bioactive components in different cancers. Gaze through the lens indicates that certain hints have emerged which highlight regulatory role of pomegranate in Wnt/β-catenin, mTOR and NF-κB-driven pathways. However, there are unresolved questions related to targeting of TGF/SMAD, JAK/STAT, SHH/GLI, NOTCH by pomegranate in variety of cancers. In accordance with same approach, pomegranate mediated regulations of TRAIL/TRAIL-R and FasL/Fas have also been insufficiently studied. Therefore, I will attempt to analyze and discuss the existing knowledge gaps in our understanding related to ability of pomegranate to modulate myriad of protein networks. It will not be wrong if we say that researchers have just started to scratch the surface of a new and mysterious web of medicinal properties of pomegranate to target multiple transduction cascades.