Royal jelly is beneficial for maintaining the quality of life and medication compliance in tyrosine kinase inhibitors-treated kidney cancer patients. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Oral Intake of Royal Jelly Has Protective Effects Against Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor-Induced Toxicity in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Trial.
Medicines (Basel). 2018 Dec 20 ;6(1). Epub 2018 Dec 20. PMID: 30577515
Kyohei Araki
Although tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are still recommended as the standard therapy in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the high frequency of adverse events is a weakness of this therapy. Because royal jelly (RJ) possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, we assessed its protective effects on TKI-induced toxicities in RCC patients.We enrolled 33 patients with advanced RCC who were assigned to start TKI therapy in combination with a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled RJ trial consisting of a placebo group with 17 subjects and an RJ group with 16 subjects.Fatigue and anorexia frequencies in the RJ group were significantly lower than in the placebo group (= 0.003 and 0.015, respectively). A statistically significant correlation between RJ and fatigue or anorexia was detected in sunitinib-treated patients. The dose reduction- or discontinuation-free periods were significantly longer (= 0.013) in the RJ group than in the placebo group. Furthermore, similar observations were made in sunitinib-treated patients (= 0.016).Our clinical trial showed that RJ exerted protective effects against TKI-induced fatigue and anorexia and lowered TKI dose reduction or discontinuation. Hence, RJ is beneficial for maintaining the quality of life and medication compliance in TKI-treated RCC patients.