Injected and in large quantities, vitamin C helped boost chemotherapy in mice and humans according to a study published in the specialized journal Science Translational Medicine.
Researchers at the University of Kansas tested the effects of vitamin C on chemotherapy in rodents and a few patients.
After grafting human ovarian cancer cells into mice, they injected them with vitamin C. They also administered this vitamin to patients with advanced ovarian cancer.
They found that ovarian cancer cells were sensitive to vitamin C treatment, and non-diseased cells remained healthy.
This high dose vitamin C treatment was given in parallel to conventional chemotherapy. While it was effective in destroying cancer cells, it also helped to decrease the negative effects of chemotherapy.
Promising trials
Researcher Jeanne Drisko, co-author of the study, believes that “there really is an interest in using vitamin C for oncologists.”
“Patients are looking for safe and affordable treatments to better manage their cancer, ”she recalls. “According to this study, and the first clinical data, vitamin C administered intravenously has exactly this potential. It is effective and accessible to all.”
But the use of vitamin C faces an economic obstacle. Pharmaceutical industries are unlikely to fund trials of intravenous vitamin C because there is no possibility of patenting natural products.
“Because vitamin C cannot provide patent potential, its development will not be supported by pharmaceutical companies,” said Dr. Qi Chen, principal investigator of the study.
Dr Kat Arney, communications manager at the British Cancer Research Institute, reacted to this new study. “As the experiment was only carried out on 22 patients, it is difficult to say whether high doses of vitamin C by injection have a real impact on patient survival. But it is interesting to note that it reduces side effects of chemotherapy ”and concludes that“ any potential cancer treatment should be carefully evaluated in large clinical trials to ensure that it is safe for the sick and effective. Further studies are therefore necessary before prescribing vitamin C to patients. “
