3. Discussion
cancers, death, tumor, oropharyngeal cancers, cancer, head and neck cancer
CANCERS, CANCER PROGRESSION, TUMOR, CANCER, DISEASE, OROPHARYNGEAL CANCER, HEAD AND NECK CANCER, HEAD AND NECK CANCER
Head and neck cancer, especially oral and oropharyngeal cancers, are one of the most devastating cancers in its effect on quality of life [To our knowledge, only a few human studies have investigated cancer preventive and therapeutic effects of PEITC. A clinical trial in cigarette smokers showed the benefit of PEITC to reduce metabolic activation of lung cancer-specific carcinogens [In this study, the number of interventions taken was aimed at a nutritional supplement (200 kcal per serving). Supplementation with Nutri-Jelly was previously shown to improve quality of life and reduced the requirement for an NG tube for head and neck cancer patients [Reactivation of p53 is a critical approach to regain apoptosis and halt cancer progression [The strength of this study was the triple-blinded design with matched study and control arms. In addition, we evaluated the participants in various aspects that could affect their quality of life and survival. Subject diaries to record intervention intake as well as serum PEITC levels were analyzed to ensure participants’ compliance. Nevertheless, we encountered some limitations. First, dropout rates were quite high (51.22% and 32.2% in control and study groups, respectively), mostly due to death or progressive disease. Notably, the percentage of dropouts in the control group was higher than that of the study group. The difference may be a result of the intervention’s efficacy in stabilizing the disease in study group [To address the above-mentioned flaws and limitations, future studies should aim to reduce dropout rates, characterize the genetic background of participants, analyze p53 levels in tumor samples, and explore additional molecular pathways that may contribute to the cancer-stabilizing effects of Nutri-PEITC Jelly.