(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) High-dose vitamin C can boost the cancer-killing effect of chemotherapy in the lab and mice, research suggests.
Given by injection, it could potentially be a safe, effective and low-cost treatment for ovarian and other cancers, US scientists say. Reporting in Science Translational Medicine, they call for large-scale government clinical trials. Pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to run trials, as vitamins cannot be patented.
Vitamin C has long been used as an alternative therapy for cancer. In the 1970s, chemist Linus Pauling reported that vitamin C given intravenously was effective in treating cancer
However, clinical trials of vitamin C given by mouth failed to replicate the effect, and research was abandoned. It is now known that the human body quickly excretes vitamin C when it is taken by mouth.
However, scientists at the University of Kansas say that when given by injection vitamin C is absorbed into the body, and can kill cancer cells without harming normal ones.
The researchers injected 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.
Co-researcher Dr Jeanne Drisko said there was growing interest in the use of vitamin C by oncologists. "Patients are looking for safe and low-cost choices in their management of cancer," she told BBC News.
"Intravenous vitamin C has that potential based on our basic science research and early clinical data.
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