Cancer researchers have homed in on how high-dose vitamin C kills cancer cells. Vitamin C breaks down to generate hydrogen peroxide, which can damage tissue and DNA. The new study shows that tumor cells with low levels of catalase enzyme activity are much less capable of removing hydrogen peroxide than normal cells, and are more susceptible to damage and death when they are exposed to high doses of vitamin C.
Most vitamin C therapies involve taking the substance orally. However, the UI scientists have shown that giving vitamin C intravenously -- and bypassing normal gut metabolism and excretion pathways -- creates blood levels that are 100 -- 500 times higher than levels seen with oral ingestion. It is this super-high concentration in the blood that is crucial to vitamin C's ability to attack cancer cells.
Vitamin C found to work up to 10 times better than a cancer pharmaceuticals
Led by Michael P. Lisanti and Gloria Bonuccelli, the study results astonished researchers when it found that vitamin C worked up to 10 times better than a pharmaceutical cancer drug at interfering with cancer stem cell metabolism, effectively shutting down cancer tumors’ ability to process cellular energy for survival and growth. “Vitamin C is cheap, natural, non-toxic and readily available so to have it as a potential weapon in the fight against cancer would be a significant step,” said Dr. Michael P. Lisanti, Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of Salford
Earlier work by UI redox biology expert Garry Buettner found that at these extremely high levels (in the millimolar range), vitamin C selectively kills cancer cells but not normal cells in the test tube and in mice. Physicians at UI Hospitals and Clinics are now testing the approach in clinical trials for pancreatic cancer and lung cancer that combine high-dose, intravenous vitamin C with standard chemotherapy or radiation. Earlier phase 1 trials indicated this treatment is safe and well-tolerated and hinted that the therapy improves patient outcomes. The current, larger trials aim to determine if the treatment improves survival.
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