Silymarin contains a group of closely-related flavonolignan compounds including silibinin, and is extracted from Silybum marianum species, also called milk thistle. Silymarin has been shown to protect the liver in both experimental models and clinical studies. The chemopreventive activity of silymarin has shown some efficacy against cancer both in vitro and in vivo. Silymarin can modulate apoptosis in vitro and survival in vivo, by interfering with the expression of cell cycle regulators and apoptosis-associated proteins. In addition to its anti-metastatic activity, silymarin has also been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity. The chemoprotective effects of silymarin and silibinin (its major constituent) suggest they could be applied to reduce the side effects and increase the anti-cancer effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in various cancer types, especially in gastrointestinal cancers. This review examines the recent studies and summarizes the mechanistic pathways and down-stream targets of silymarin in the therapy of gastrointestinal cancer.

Hypertension is a medical problem during pregnancy and one of the types of hypertensions during pregnancy is eclampsia-preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to compare inflammatory markers between women with eclampsia -preeclampsia and pregnant women with normal blood pressure admitted to the gynecology ward of Shahada Tarnish and Mehrieh hospitals in 1998-99. This descriptive-analytical study was performed with a cross-sectional design. The study population consisted of all patients diagnosed with eclampsiapreeclampsia and pregnant mothers in Shohada-e-Tajrish and Mahdieh Hospitals in Tehran during 2019 to 2020. The study sample consisted of 400 patients who were selected by convenience or convenience sampling method and 200 patients with a diagnosis of eclampsia-preeclampsia were in the experimental group and 200 pregnant women were in the control group. The subjects completed pre-prepared forms for study variables, i.e. information on maternal age, maternal weight, infant weight, gestational age, neutrophil count and lymphocytes. To analyze the collected data, tests such as Pearson correlation coefficient and independent t-test were used and analyzed by SPSS software version 23. The results showed that a statistically significant difference was found between NLR and PLR MPV. Finally, the results of this study showed that platelet count; MPV, NLR, PLR were significantly different in the two groups of preeclampsia patients and pregnant women with normal blood pressure and that these indicators can be used to predict preeclampsia.