In the article titled “Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Decoction Inhibits the Invasion and Metastasis of Gastric Cancer Cells through TGF-β/Smad Pathway” [1], the clinical rationale for the study was not adequately supported because the statement that “Clinical study on large samples has shown that YHJD can obviously improve the quality of life of patients and prolong their survival” was unreferenced. The study was based on the outcomes of the project “Study on the individualized treatment based on Jianpi Yangwei for postoperative gastric cancer recurrence and metastasis (健脾养胃法为主的个体化治疗对胃癌术后复发转移干预方案的研究)” (200807022), which was funded by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and ended in 2016. One of the authors, Dr. Liu, published a prospective cohort study on YHJD in gastric cancer in 2014 [2], updated in English in 2019 [3].
References
- 1.Wu T.-T., Lu J., Zheng P.-Q., et al. Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Decoction Inhibits the Invasion and Metastasis of Gastric Cancer Cells through TGF-β/Smad Pathway. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2017;2017:8. doi: 10.1155/2017/1871298.1871298 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Peng S., Liu S., Wang R. Clinical study of Yiqi Huayu Jiede decoction on 201 cases of gastric recurrence and metastasis (舒鹏, 刘沈林, 王瑞平.益气化瘀解毒方抗胃癌复发转移201例临床研究. 江苏中医药) Jiangsu Traditional Chinese Medicine. 2014;46(4):23–24. http://www.cqvip.com/qk/93794a/201404/49229401.html. [Google Scholar]
- 3.Shu P., Tang H., Zhou B., et al. Effect of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu decoction on stages II and III gastric cancer. Medicine. 2019;98(47) doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000017875. https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/Fulltext/2019/11220/Effect_of_Yiqi_Huayu_Jiedu_decoction_on_stages_II.13.aspx.e17875 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]