High Doses of Vitamin C May Keep Cancer at Bay

Lisa Franchi February 10, 2014

When given by injections, vitamin C is absorbed into the body, and can kill cancer cells without harming the normal ones, US researchers say.

The study, carried out by a team of scientists from the University of Kansas, suggests that vitamin C may boost the cancer-killing effect of chemotherapy drugs. According to them, it can be a safe, effective and low-cost treatment for ovarian and other cancers.

"Patients are looking for safe and low-cost choices in their management of cancer," co-researcher Dr Jeanne Drisko told BBC. "Intravenous vitamin C has that potential based on our basic science research and early clinical data."

But one potential hurdle is that pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to fund trials of intravenous vitamin C because there is no ability to patent natural products. "Because vitamin C has no patent potential, its development will not be supported by pharmaceutical companies," lead author Qi Chen said. "We believe that the time has arrived for research agencies to vigorously support thoughtful and meticulous clinical trials with intravenous vitamin C."

In the study, the team injected high doses of vitamin C into human ovarian cancer cells in the lab, into mice, and into patients with advanced ovarian cancer. They found ovarian cancer cells were sensitive to vitamin C treatment, but normal cells were unharmed. They also discovered that vitamin C worked in tandem with chemotherapy drugs to slow the growth of tumour. Furthermore, a small group of patients reported fewer side-effects when given vitamin C alongside chemotherapy.

Dr Kat Arney pointed out that there’s a long history of research into the role of vitamin C in treating cancer. "It’s difficult to tell with such a small trial - just 22 patients - whether high-dose vitamin C injections had any effect on survival, but it’s interesting that it seemed to reduce the side-effects of chemotherapy," she said.

"Any potential treatment for cancer needs to be thoroughly evaluated in large clinical trials to make sure it’s safe and effective, so further studies are needed before we know for sure what benefits high dose vitamin C may have for patients."

The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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Vitamin C keeps cancer at bay, US research suggests