High Dose Vitamin C IV Therapy

Vitamin C Has Shown to be a Powerful Support for Cancer Care

This is a powerful support option. It is compatible with most all chemotherapies, immunotherapies and radiation.  

Patients given IVC benefit from less fatigue, reduction in nausea, improved appetite, reductions in depression, fewer sleep disorders, increased platelet count, and decreased pain. Vitamin C can acts as a pro-oxidant at the higher doses we use. So it is helpful to be given during many of the chemotherapy drug cycles.

Ascorbic acid blood levels are tightly regulated by your body.  First, in the amount that can be absorbed across the gut and secondly excess Vit C in the blood is rapidly filtered out by your kidneys.  Higher oral doses oddly enough have a reduced absorption rate.  The body prefers oral doses under 500 mg within a 2-hour period.  So, eating/drinking excess Vitamin C has limited therapeutic value.  Also, oral high doses often trigger diarrhea.  

IV vitamin C has been shown to stabilize many types of tumors, including stopping the growth and spread of tumors.  Best results are seen with the following: bladder, breast, cholangiocarcinoma, colon, kidney, lymphomas, lung NSCLC, and multiple myeloma cancers.  Shown to lower PSA and ALP levels in prostate cancer.  It can be a mild blood thinner, so caution is taken with some medications.

We monitor Copper and iron levels also because Vit C likes to bind with these metals making them less available to your cells.

High dose vitamin C therapy requires you get a simple blood test called glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase (G6PD) before we go over 20grams of Vitamin C.  You will need to eat before your IVs. Vitamin C can lower you blood glucose levels causing hypoglycemia. 

IV drip times vary from 45-90+ minutes depending on dose. Costs vary from $195- $300+ depending on dose.  Which is lot less than the cost of chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

Ascorbic acid in your body selectively increases the levels of peroxide poisoning of cancer cells, without harming noncancerous cells.  It reduces chemical toxicity to your healthy cells DNA and is protective of your liver.

For high dose vitamin C therapy to consistently do its job creating hydrogen peroxide, tissue saturation levels must be maintained.  This requires initial IV therapy to occur at least two times weekly, more often if you can, plus supplementing with oral Vitamin C. At recovery phase we begin to reduce frequency.

Low levels of catalase enzyme make cancer cells vulnerable to ascorbate. Vitamin C has a patchy history as a cancer therapy, but researchers at the University of Iowa believe that is because it has often been used in a way that guarantees failure.

Most vitamin C therapies involve taking the substance orally. However, UI scientists have shown that giving vitamin C (also known as ascorbate) intravenously—thus bypassing normal gut metabolism and excretion pathways—creates blood levels that are 100 to 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.

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 both 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.

In a new study published recently in the December issue of the journal Redox Biology, Buettner and his colleagues have homed in on the biological details of how high-dose vitamin C kills cancer cells.

The study shows that vitamin C breaks down easily, generating hydrogen peroxide, a so-called reactive oxygen species that can damage tissue and DNA. The study also shows that tumor cells are much less capable of removing the damaging hydrogen peroxide than normal cells.

“In this paper we demonstrate that cancer cells are much less efficient in removing hydrogen peroxide than normal cells. Thus, cancer cells are much more prone to damage and death from a high amount of hydrogen peroxide,” says Buettner, a professor of radiation oncology and a member of Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa. “This explains how the very, very high levels of vitamin C used in our clinical trials do not affect normal tissue, but can be damaging to tumor tissue.”

Normal cells have several ways to remove hydrogen peroxide, keeping it at very low levels so it does not cause damage. The new study shows that an enzyme called catalase is the central route for removing hydrogen peroxide generated by decomposing vitamin C. The researchers discovered that cells with lower amounts of catalase activity were more susceptible to damage and death when they were exposed to high amounts of vitamin C.

Buettner says this fundamental information might help determine which cancers and which therapies could be improved by including high-dose vitamin C in the treatment regimen.

“Our results suggest that cancers with low levels of catalase are likely to be the most responsive to high-dose vitamin C therapy, whereas cancers with relatively high levels of catalase may be the least responsive,” he explains.

A future goal of the research is to develop methods to measure catalase levels in tumors.

In addition to Buettner, the UI research team included Claire Doskey (now doing postdoctoral work at Michigan State University), Visarut Buranasudja, Brett Wagner, Justin Wilkes, Juan Du, and Joseph Cullen. The study was funded in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Gateway for Cancer Research.

Research Articles (small sampling)

(1975) Cameron E, et al. The orthomolecular treatment of cancer. III. Reticulum cell sarcoma: double complete regression induced by high-dose ascorbic acid therapy.” Chemico-biological Interactions. 1975 Nov;11(5):387-93.

(1978) Cameron E, Pauling L. Supplemental ascorbate in the supportive treatment of cancer: reevaluation of prolongation of survival times in terminal human cancer.” Proceedings of the National academy of Science of the USA. 1978 Sep;75(9):4538-42.

(1990) Mehta JB, Singhal SB, Mehta BC. “Ascorbic-acid-induced haemolysis in G-6-PD deficiency.” Lancet. Oct 13 1990;336(8720):944.

(1991) G. Block.  “Vitamin C and cancer prevention: the epidemiologic evidence.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1991, Jan.;53(1 Suppl):270S-82S

(1991) G. Block. “Epidemiologic evidence regarding vitamin C and cancer.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1991 Dec.;54(6 Suppl):1310S

(1993) Rees DC, Kelsey H, Richards JD. “Acute haemolysis induced by high dose ascorbic acid in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.” BMJ. Mar 27 1993;306(6881):841-842.

(1996) Kurbacher, et al. “Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) improves the antineoplastic activity of doxorubicin, cisplatin, and paclitaxel in human breast carcinoma cells in vitro.” Cancer letters. 103. 183-9. 10.1016/0304-3835(96)04212-7.

(1998) Antunes LM, Takahashi CS. “Effects of high doses of vitamins C and E against doxorubicin-induced chromosomal damage in Wistar rat bone marrow cells.” Mutat Res. 1998 Nov 9;419(1-3):137-43. doi: 10.1016/s1383-5718(98)00134-x. PMID: 9804927.

(1998) K.A. Head.  “Ascorbic acid in the prevention and treatment of cancer”. Alternative Medicine Review, 1998, June;3(3):174-86

(2000) Andrew G, Bowie2 , O’Neill LAJ. “Vitamin C Inhibits NF-kB Activation by TNF Via the Activation of p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase.” The J Immunol. 2000, 165: 7180-7188.

(2001) Casciari JJ, Riordan NH. “Cytotoxicity of ascorbate, lipoic acid, and other antioxidants in hollow fiber in vitro tumors.” Br J Cancer. 2001, 84: 1544-1550. 10.1054/bjoc.2001.1814.

(2001) Khaw KT, et al.  “Relation between plasma ascorbic acid and mortality in men and women in EPIC-Norfolk prospective study: a prospective population study. European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.”  Lancet. 2001 Mar 3;357(9257):657-63.

(2002) Bowie AG, Carcamo JM, Pedraza A, Borquez-Qjeda O, Golde DW. “Vitamin C suppresses TNFa-induced NFkB activation by inhibiting IkαB phosphorilation.” Biochemistry. 2002, 41: 12995-13002. 10.1021/bi0263210.

(2004) Padayatty SJ, Sun H, Wang Y, et al. “Vitamin C pharmacokinetics: implications for oral and intravenous use.” Ann Intern Med 140 (7): 533-7, 2004.

(2004) Park, et al. “L-ascorbic acid induces apoptosis in acute myeloid leukemia cells via hydrogen peroxide-mediated mechanisms.” The International Journal of Biochemisby & Cell Biology 36 (2004) 2180-2195.

(2004) Park, et al. “L-Ascorbic Acid Represses Constitutive Activation of NF-KB and COX-2 Expression in Human Acute Myeloid Leukemia, HL-60.” Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 2004, 93(2):257-270.

(2005) Levine M, Espey MG, Chen Q.  “Losing and finding a way at C: new promise for pharmacologic ascorbate in cancer treatment.”  Free Radic Biol Med. 2009 Jul 1;47(1):27-9. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2009.04.001. Epub 2009 Apr 8.

(2005) Chen Q, Espey MG, Krishna MC. “Pharmacologic ascorbic acid concentrations selectively kill cancer cells: action as a pro-drug to deliver hydrogen peroxide to tissues.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005, 102: 13604-13609. 10.1073/pnas.0506390102.

(2005) Pathak AK, Bhutani M, Guleria R, et al. “Chemotherapy alone vs. chemotherapy plus high dose multiple antioxidants in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.” J Am Coll Nutr. Feb 2005;24(1):16-21.

(2006) Sebastian J Paddayatty, Hugh D Riordan, Stephen M Hewitt, Arie Katz, L John Hoffer, Mark Levine. “Intravenously Administered Vitamin C as Cancer Therapy: Three Cases.”  CMAJ: March 28, 2006: 174(7) 937 (B-cell lymphoma, renal cell carcinoma, bladder cancer)

(2006) H Kawada et al. “Phase I Clinical Trial of Intravenous L-ascorbic Acid Following Salvage Chemotherapy for Relapsed B-cell non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma’. Tokai Journal of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, 2014, Sep 20;39(3):111-5; S.J. Padayatty et al., ‘Intravenously administered vitamin C as cancer therapy: three cases’, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2006, Mar. 28;174(7):937-42

(2007) Yeom CH, Jung GC, Song KJ. “Changes of terminal cancer patients' health-related quality of life after high dose vitamin C administration.” J Korean Med Sci 22 (1): 7-11, 2007. 

(2007) Duconge J, Miranda-Massari JR, González MJ, Taylor PR, Riordan HD, Riordan NH, Casciari JJ, Alliston K.  “Vitamin C pharmacokinetics after continuous infusion in a patient with prostate cancer.” Ann Pharmacother. 2007, 41 (6): 1082-1083. 10.1345/aph.1H654.

(2008) Duconge J, Miranda-Massari JR, Gonzalez MJ, Jackson JA, Warnock W, Riordan NH. Pharmacokinetics of vitamin C: insights into the oral and intravenous administration of ascorbate.” P R Health Sci J. 2008 Mar;27(1):7-19.

(2008) Mikirova NA, Ichim TE, Riordan NH. “Anti-angiogenic effect of high doses of ascorbic acid.” J Transl Med. 2008 Sep 12;6:50. doi: 10.1186/1479-5876-6-50.

(2008) Cameron E, Pauling L. “Supplemental ascorbate in the supportive treatment of cancer: Prolongation of survival times in terminal human cancer.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 1976, 73: 3685-3689. 10.1073/pnas.73.10.3685.corbate. P R Health Sci J. 2008, 27 (1): 7-19. Review

(2008) Hofer, et al. “Phase I clinical trial of i.v. ascorbic acid in advanced malignancy.” Annals of Oncology. 2008 Nov;19(11):1969-74. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdn377. Epub 2008 Jun 9.

(2009) Levine M, Espey MG, Chen Q. “Losing and finding a way at C: new promise for pharmacologic ascorbate in cancer treatment.” Free Radic Biol Med. 2009 Jul 1;47(1):27-9. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2009.04.001. Epub 2009 Apr 8.

(2011) Pathi SS, Lei P, Sreevalsan S, Chadalapaka G, Jutooru I, Safe S. “Pharmacologic doses of ascorbic acid repress specificity protein (Sp) transcription factors and Sp-regulated genes in colon cancer cells.” Nutr Cancer. 2011;63(7):1133-42. doi: 10.1080/01635581.2011.605984. Epub 2011 Sep 15. PMID: 21919647; PMCID: PMC3359146.  This study demonstrates for the first time that the anticancer activities of ascorbic acid are due, in part, to ROS-dependent repression of Sp transcription factors.

(2011) C Vollbracht et al. “Intravenous vitamin C administration improves quality of life in breast cancer patients during chemo-/radiotherapy and aftercare: results of a retrospective, multicentre, epidemiological cohort study in Germany.”  In Vivo, 2011, Nov-Dec;25(6):983-90

(2012) Monti DA, Mitchell E, Bazzan AJ, et al. “Phase I evaluation of intravenous ascorbic acid in combination with gemcitabine and erlotinib in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.” PLoS One 7 (1): e29794, 2012.

(2009) Ohno, et al.  “High-dose Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) Therapy in the Treatment of Patients with Advanced Cancer.” Anticancer Research March 2009 vol. 29 no. 3 809-815.

(2010) Li W, Wu JX, Tu YY. “Synergistic effects of tea polyphenols and ascorbic acid on human lung adenocarcinoma SPC-A-1 cells.” J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 2010;11:458–464.

(2010) Takemura Y, Satoh M, Satoh K, Hamada H, Sekido Y, Kubota S. “High dose of ascorbic acid induces cell death in mesothelioma cells.”  Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Apr 2;394(2):249-53. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.02.012. Epub 2010 Feb 19. PMID: 20171954.

(2010) elia Ranzato, et al.  Selective ascorbate toxicity in malignant mesothelioma a redox trojan mechanism.” American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. Vol 44. Pp 108-117, 2011.

(2010) Muralikrishnan G, Amanullah S, Basha MI, Boopalan S, Vijayakumar S, Shakeel F. “Effect of vitamin C on lipidperoxidation and antioxidant status in tamoxifen-treated breast cancer patients.” Chemotherapy. 2010;56(4):298-302. doi: 10.1159/000320030. Epub 2010 Aug 13. PMID: 20714147.

(2011) Vollbracht C, Schneider B, Leendert V, et al. “Intravenous vitamin C administration improves quality of life in breast cancer patients during chemo-/radiotherapy and aftercare: results of a retrospective, multicentre, epidemiological cohort study in Germany.” In Vivo 25 (6): 983-90, 2011 Nov-Dec.

(2011) Nakano, et al. “Delayed treatment with vitamin C and N-acetyl-L-cysteine protects Schwann cells without compromising the anti-myeloma activity of bortezomib.” Int J Hematol. 2011 Jun;93(6):727-735. doi: 10.1007/s12185-011-0850-7. Epub 2011 Apr 28.

(2011) K. Hosokawa et al. “Ascorbic acid enhances radiation-induced apoptosis in an HL60 human leukemia cell line”. .J Radiat Res. 2011;52(2):229-37

(2012) Klingelhoeffer C, Kammerer U, Koospal M, et al. “Natural resistance to ascorbic acid induced oxidative stress is mainly mediated by catalase activity in human cancer cells and catalase-silencing sensitizes to oxidative stress.” BMC Complement Altern Med. 2012;12:61.

(2012) Monit, et al. “Phase I evaluation of intravenous ascorbic acid in combination with gemcitabine and erlotinib in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.” PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e29794. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029794. Epub 2012 Jan 17.

(2012) Mikirova, Nina et al. “Effect of high-dose intravenous vitamin C on inflammation in cancer patients.” Journal of translational medicine vol. 10 189. 11 Sep. 2012, doi:10.1186/1479-5876-10-189

(2012) Chen P, et al. Pharmacological ascorbate induces cytotoxicity in prostate cancer cells through ATP depletion and induction of autophagy.” Anticancer Drugs. 2012 Apr;23(4):437-44. 

(2012) Vetvicka V, Vetvickova J. “Combination of glucan, resveratrol and vitamin C demonstrates strong anti-tumor potential.” Anticancer Res. 2012;32:81–87.

(2012) Moens B, Decanine D, Menezes SM, Khouri R, Silva-Santos G, et al.  “Ascorbic Acid Has Superior Ex Vivo Antiproliferative, Cell Death-Inducing and Immunomodulatory Effects over IFN-a in HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy.” PLoS Negl Trop Dis 6(7): e1729. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001729

(2013) Riordan Clinic Research Institute. “The Riordan IVC Protocol for Adjunctive Cancer Care Intravenous Ascorbate as a Chemotherapeutic and Biological Response Modifying Agent.”  February 2013. file:///C:/Users/krisr06/Documents/Clinic%20Business/IV.IMJ%20Therapy/IV%20HDVC%20protocol%20cancer%202013.pdf

(2013) Stephenson CM, Levin RD, Spector T, Lis CG. “Phase I clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of high-dose intravenous ascorbic acid in patients with advanced cancer.” Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2013;72(1):139-146.

(2013) Welsh JL, Wagner BA, van't Erve TJ, et al. “Pharmacological ascorbate with gemcitabine for the control of metastatic and node-positive pancreatic cancer (PACMAN): results from a phase I clinical trial.” Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 71 (3): 765-75, 2013.

(2013) Lam, Tram Kim et al. “Prediagnostic plasma vitamin C and risk of gastric adenocarcinoma and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in a Chinese population.” American journal of clinical nutrition vol. 98,5 (2013): 1289-97.

(2013) Viviana Ulloa, etal. “Human choroid plexus papilloma cells efficiently transport glucose and vitamin C.” Journal of Neurochemistry. 127: 403-414, 2013.

(2013) Alexander B, Fishman AI, Eshghi M, Choudhury M, Konno S. “Induction of cell death in renal cell carcinoma with combination of D-fraction and vitamin C.” Integr Cancer Ther. 2013;12:442–448.

(2013) C.M. Stephensen et al. “Phase I clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of high-dose intravenous ascorbic acid in patients with advanced cancer.” Cancer Chemotherapy Pharmacology, 2013, Jul;72(1):139-46

(2013) Putchala MC, Ramani P, Sherlin HJ, Premkumar P, Natesan A.  “Ascorbic acid and its pro-oxidant activity as a therapy for tumours of oral cavity -- a systematic review.”  Arch Oral Biol. 2013 Jun;58(6):563-74. doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2013.01.016. Epub 2013 Mar 8. PMID: 23477602.

(2014) Ma Y, Chapman J, Levine M, et al. “High-dose parenteral ascorbate enhanced chemosensitivity of ovarian cancer and reduced toxicity of chemotherapy.” Sci Transl Med 6 (222): 222ra18, 2014.

(2014) Riordan H, Riordan N, et al. “The Riordan intravenous vitamin C (IVC) protocol for adjunctive cancer care: IVC as a chemotherapeutic and biological response modifying agent.” In: “The orthomolecular treatment of chronic disease”, edited by AW Saul, Basic Health Publications, Inc. 2014, 750-766.

(2014) Carr, Anitra C et al. “The effect of intravenous vitamin C on cancer- and chemotherapy-related fatigue and quality of life.” Frontiers in oncology vol. 4 283. 16 Oct. 2014, doi:10.3389/fonc.2014.00283

(2014) Fritz, H., Flower, G., Weeks, L., Cooley, K., Callachan, M., McGowan, J. Seely, D. “Intravenous Vitamin C and Cancer: A Systematic Review.” Integrative Cancer Therapies13(4), 280–300.

(2014) H.S. Kiziltan.  “Ascorbic-acid Treatment for Progressive Bone Metastases After Radiotherapy: A Pilot Study.”  Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 2014, Oct;20 Suppl 2:16-20.

(2014) Chakraborthy A, Ramani P, Sherlin HJ, Premkumar P, Natesan A.  “Antioxidant and pro-oxidant activity of Vitamin C in oral environment.” Indian J Dent Res. 2014 Jul-Aug;25(4):499-504. doi: 10.4103/0970-9290.142547. PMID: 25307916.

(2015) Jocelyn Kaisar.  “Vitamin C kills tumor cells with hard-to-treat mutation.” Science.  November 5, 2015. doi:10.1126/science.aad7397

(2015) Michael J. Gonzalez NMD, DSc, PhD, FANMA, FACN, Jorge R. Miranda-Massari PharmD, Jorge Duconge PhD,  Miguel J. Berdiel MD.  Increasing the Effectiveness of Intravenous Vitamin C as an Anticancer Agent.  Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine Volume 32, Number 1, 2017

(2015) Hoffer, L John et al. “High-dose intravenous vitamin C combined with cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with advanced cancer: a phase I-II clinical trial.” PloS one vol. 10,4 e0120228. 7 Apr. 2015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120228

(2015) Yun, J. Vitamin C selectively kills KRAS and BRAF mutant colorectal cancer cells by targeting GAPDH.” Science 2015, 350, 1391–1396.

(2015) J. Du et al. “Pharmacological Ascorbate Radiosensitizes Pancreatic Cancer”. Cancer Research, 2015, Aug 15;75(16):3314-26. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-1707. Epub 2015, Jun 16

(2015) M.S. Seo et al. “High-Dose Vitamin C Promotes Regression of Multiple Pulmonary Metastases Originating from Hepatocellular Carcinoma.” Yonsei Medical Journal, 2015, Sep;56(5):1449-52. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2015.56.5.1449

(2016) Nina Mikirova, Neil Riordan, Joseph Casciari.  “Modulation of Cytokines in Cancer Patients by Intravenous Ascorbate Therapy.” Medical Science Monitor. 2016; 22:14-25

(2016) Rosário PW, Batista KC, Calsolari MR. “Radioiodine-induced oxidative stress in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma and effect of supplementation with vitamins C and E and selenium (antioxidants).”  Arch Endocrinol Metab. 2016 Aug;60(4):328-32. doi: 10.1590/2359-3997000000128. Epub 2016 Feb 23. PMID: 26910631.

(2016) Lauren Rouleau, Anil Noronha Antony, Sara Bisetto, Andrew Newberg, Cataldo Doria, Mark Levine, Daniel A. Monti, and Jan B. Hoek  “Synergistic effects of ascorbate and sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma: New insights into ascorbate cytotoxicity.” Free Radic Biol Med . 2016 June ; 95: 308–322. doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2016.03.031.

(2016) Y.C Raymond et al. “Effects of High Doses of Vitamin C on Cancer Patients in Singapore: Nine Cases.” Integral Cancer Therapy, 2016, Jun;15(2):197-204. doi: 10.1177/1534735415622010. Epub 2015 Dec 17.

(2016) N. Mikirova et al. “High-Dose Intravenous Vitamin C Treatment of a Child with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and Optic Pathway Glioma: A Case Report.”  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27773919, American Journal of Case Reports. 2016, Oct 24;17:774-781.

(2016) G.V Frajese et al. “Potassium increases the antitumor effects of ascorbic acid in breast cancer cell lines in vitro.” Oncology Letters, 2016, Jun;11(6):4224-4234. Epub 2016, Apr 27

(2017) University of Iowa Health Care. “Why High Dose Vitamin C Kills Cancer Cells.”  Science Daily.  January 9, 2017. file:///C:/Users/krisr06/Documents/Clinic%20Business/IV.IMJ%20Therapy/Why%20high-dose%20vitamin%20C%20kills%20cancer%20cells_%20Science%20Daily%202017.html

(2017) Schoenfeld, Joshua D. et al. “O2 and H2O2-Mediated Disruption of Fe Metabolism Causes the Differential Susceptibility of NSCLC and GBM Cancer Cells to Pharmacological Ascorbate.”  Cancer Cell, Volume 31 , Issue 4 , 487 - 500.e8 

(2017) Jennifer Brown. “High-dose vitamin C proves safe and well-tolerated in brain and lung cancer trials.”  Study identifies flaws in cancer cell metabolism that make high-dose vitamin C toxic to tumor cells.  University of Iowa.

(2017) “High doses of vitamin C to improve cancer treatment passes human safety trial.”  Science Daily, Cell Press. March 30, 2017.

(2017) Xia, Jiliang et al.  “Multiple Myeloma Tumor Cells are Selectively Killed by Pharmacologically-dosed Ascorbic Acid.” EBioMedicine, Volume 18 , 41 – 49.

(2017) Brickner, et al.  “Abstract CT061: Novel safety of high dose ascorbic acid and induction chemotherapy for high risk pancreatic cancer.” AACR Publications. 10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-CT061 Published July 2017

(2017) Cimmino, Luisa, et al. “Restoration of TET2 Function Blocks Aberrant Self-Renewal and Leukemia Progression.” Cell. Volume 170, Issue 6, P1079-1095.E20, September 07, 2017. (High dose Vitamin C.  

(2017) Gonzalez, et al. “High Dose IV Vitamin C and Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Case Report.” J Orthmol Med. 32(6)

(2017) Polireddy, et al. High Dose Parenteral Ascorbate Inhibited Pancreatic Cancer Growth and Metastasis: Mechanisms and a Phase I/IIa study.” Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 7;7(1):17188. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-17568-8.

(2017) Agathocleous, et al. Ascorbate regulates haematopoietic stem cell function and leukaemogenesis.” Nature. 2017 Sep 28;549(7673):476-481. doi: 10.1038/nature23876. Epub 2017 Aug 21.

(2017) Violet, et al. “Pharmacologic Ascorbate in Myeloma Treatment: Doses Matter.” EBioMedicine 2017, 18, 9–10

(2017) Shenoy, et al. “Upregulation of TET activity with ascorbic acid induces epigenetic modulation of lymphoma cells.”  Blood Cancer J. 2017, 7, e587. 

(2017) Roa, Francisco J et al. “Therapeutic Use of Vitamin C in Cancer: Physiological Considerations.” Frontiers in pharmacology vol. 11 211. 3 Mar. 2020, doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.00211

(2017) Mastrangelo D, Massai L, Fioritoni G, et al. “High Doses of Vitamin C and Leukaemia: In Vitro Update.” Advanced Leuk Res Treat. 1(1):5-19, 2017. 

(2017) Clinical Trial Phase 3. “IV ascorbic acid in advanced gastric cancer.”  https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03015675.

(2017) University of Iowa Health Care. “Why high-dose vitamin C kills cancer cells: Low levels of catalase enzyme make cancer cells vulnerable to high-dose vitamin C.”  Science Daily.  January 9, 2017. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170109134014.htm.

(2017) University of Iowa Health Care. “High-dose vitamin C proves safe and well-tolerated in brain and lung cancer trials.” March 30, 2017. https://now.uiowa.edu/2017/03/high-dose-vitamin-c-proves-safe-and-well-tolerated-brain-and-lung-cancer-trials

(2017) Schoenfeld et al.  “O2 ,– and H2O2-Mediated Disruption of Fe Metabolism Causes the Differential Susceptibility of NSCLC and GBM Cancer Cells to Pharmacological Ascorbate.” Cancer Cell 31, 487–500 April 10, 2017

(2017) Magdelana Kegel.  “High-dose vitamin C may be effective against lymphoma, other blood cancers, say researchers.”  Lymphoma News Today. August 21, 2017 https://lymphomanewstoday.com/2017/08/21/high-dose-vitamin-c-seen-to-fight-lymphoma-other-blood-cancers/

(2017) Hosokawa Y et al. “Ascorbic acid does not reduce the anticancer effect of radiotherapy.” Biomed Rep., 2017, Jan;6(1):103-107

(2018) Michael Greger. “The vitamin C study that started it all.” Nutritionfacts.org. https://nutritionfacts.org/2018/06/14/the-vitamin-c-cancer-study-that-started-it-all/.  Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. 

(2018) Jeanne A. Drisko, Oscar K. Serrano, Lisa R. Spruce, Qi Chen and Mark Levine.  Treatment of pancreatic cancer with intravenous vitamin C: a case report.  Anti-Cancer Drugs 2018, 29:373–379 

(2018) Klimant, E., Wright, H., Rubin, D., Seely, D., & Markman, M. (2018). Intravenous vitamin C in the supportive care of cancer patients: a review and rational approach. Current Oncology25(2), 139–148. http://doi.org/10.3747/co.25.3790

(2018) Sant DW, Mustafi S, Gustafson CB, Chen J, Slingerland JM, Wang G. Vitamin C promotes apoptosis in breast cancer cells by increasing TRAIL expression. Scientific Reports. 2018;8:5306. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-23714-7.

(2018) El Halabi, Ibrahim et al. “Ascorbic Acid in Colon Cancer: From the Basic to the Clinical Applications” International journal of molecular sciences vol. 19,9 2752. 13 Sep. 2018, doi:10.3390/ijms19092752

(2018) Baillie, Nicola et al. “The Use of Intravenous Vitamin C as a Supportive Therapy for a Patient with Glioblastoma Multiforme.” Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 7,9 115. 30 Aug. 2018, doi:10.3390/antiox7090115

(2018) Yuen Chuen Fong Raymond, et al.  “High-Dose Vitamin C Helps Prevent Recurrence of Stage IV Ovarian Cancer: A Case Report.” International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine. Vol. 33, No. 4.

(2018) Foster, et al. “Intravenous Vitamin C Administration Improved Blood Cell Counts and Health-Related Quality of Life of Patient with History of Relapsed Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.” Antioxidants 2018, 7, 92; doi:10.3390/antiox7070092.

(2018) Carr, Cook.  “Intravenous Vitamin C for Cancer Therapy – Identifying the Current Gaps in Our Knowledge.” Front. Physiol., 23 August 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01182

(2018) Lv, H., Wang, C., Fang, T. et al.  “Vitamin C preferentially kills cancer stem cells in hepatocellular carcinoma via SVCT-2.” npj Precision Onc 2, 1 (2018) doi:10.1038/s41698-017-0044-8

(2018) Schoenfeld, Joshua D et al. “Pharmacological Ascorbate as a Means of Sensitizing Cancer Cells to Radio-Chemotherapy While Protecting Normal Tissue.” Seminars in radiation oncology vol. 29,1 (2019): 25-32. doi:10.1016/j.semradonc.2018.10.006

(2018) Mingay, M. et al. “Vitamin C-induced epigenomic remodeling in IDH1 mutant acute myeloid leukaemia.” Leukemia 32, 11–20 (2018).

(2018) Pires, Ana S et al. “Ascorbic Acid Chemosensitizes Colorectal Cancer Cells and Synergistically Inhibits Tumor Growth.” Frontiers in physiology vol. 9 911. 23 Jul. 2018, doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.00911

(2019) Blaszczak, Wiktoria et al. “Vitamin C as a Modulator of the Response to Cancer Therapy.” Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 24,3 453. 28 Jan. 2019, doi:10.3390/molecules24030453

(2019) Gonzalez, et al. “Increasing the Effectiveness of Intravenous Vitamin C as an Anticancer Agent.” International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine. Volume 34, Number 2, 2019.

(2019) Lee, et al. Effect of High-dose Vitamin C Combined With Anti-cancer Treatment on Breast Cancer Cells.” Anticancer Res. 2019 Feb;39(2):751-758. doi: 10.21873/anticanres.13172.

(2019) Gonzalez, et al. “High dose IV Vitamin C and Breast Cancer: A case report.” International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine. 32(6). 2019.https://isom.ca/article/high-dose-iv-vitamin-c-metastatic-breast-cancer-case-report/

(2019) Pena E, et al. “Increased expression of mitochondrial sodium-coupled ascorbic acid transporter-2 (mitSVCT2) as a central feature in breast cancer.” Free Radic Biol Med. 2019 May 1;135:283-292. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2019.03.015. Epub 2019 Mar 19.

(2019) Pawlowska, Elzbieta et al. “Pro- and Antioxidant Effects of Vitamin C in Cancer in correspondence to Its Dietary and Pharmacological Concentrations.” Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity vol. 2019 7286737. 24 Dec. 2019, doi:10.1155/2019/7286737

(2019) van Gorkom, Gwendolyn N Y et al. “The Effect of Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) in the Treatment of Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review.” Nutrients vol. 11,5 977. 28 Apr. 2019, doi:10.3390/nu11050977

(2019) Das, A.B., Kakadia, P.M., Wojcik, D. et al. “Clinical remission following ascorbate treatment in a case of acute myeloid leukemia with mutations in TET2 and WT1.” Blood Cancer J. 9, 82 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41408-019-0242-4

(2019) Behnaz AbiriMohammadreza Vafa“Vitamin C and Cancer: The Role of Vitamin C in Disease Progression and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients.”  Nutrition and Cancer 25, 1-11.
Online publication date: 21-Jul-2020.

(2019) Roomi MW, et al. “A novel nutrient mixture induces apoptosis in human mesothelioma cells (MTSO-211H0 via activation of capsases).” Glob J Cancer Ther 5(1):007-011. DOI: 10.17352/2581-5407.000024 (Vit C, green tea, lysine, proline)

(2019) Ngo B, Van Riper JM, Cantley LC, Yun J. “Targeting cancer vulnerabilities with high-dose vitamin C. Nat Rev Cancer.” 2019 May;19(5):271-282. doi: 10.1038/s41568-019-0135-7. PMID: 30967651; PMCID: PMC6526932.

(2019) Su X, Shen Z, Yang Q, Sui F, Pu J, Ma J, Ma S, Yao D, Ji M, Hou P. “Vitamin C kills thyroid cancer cells through ROS-dependent inhibition of MAPK/ERK and PI3K/AKT pathways via distinct mechanisms.” Theranostics. 2019 Jun 9;9(15):4461-4473. doi: 10.7150/thno.35219. PMID: 31285773; PMCID: PMC6599666.

(2019) Gillberg L, Ørskov AD, Nasif A, Ohtani H, Madaj Z, Hansen JW, Rapin N, Mogensen JB, Liu M, Dufva IH, Lykkesfeldt J, Hajkova P, Jones PA, Grønbæk K. “Oral vitamin C supplementation to patients with myeloid cancer on azacitidine treatment: Normalization of plasma vitamin C induces epigenetic changes.” Clin Epigenetics. 2019 Oct 17;11(1):143. doi: 10.1186/s13148-019-0739-5. PMID: 31623675; PMCID: PMC6798470.

(2020) Roa, Francisco J et al. “Therapeutic Use of Vitamin C in Cancer: Physiological Considerations.” Frontiers in pharmacology vol. 11 211. 3 Mar. 2020, doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.00211

(2020) Choi YK, Kang JI, Han S, et al. “L-Ascorbic Acid Inhibits Breast Cancer Growth by Inducing IRE/JNK/CHOP-Related Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Mediated p62/SQSTM1 Accumulation in the Nucleus.” Nutrients. 2020;12(5):1351. Published 2020 May 8. doi:10.3390/nu12051351

(2020) Behnaz AbiriMohammadreza Vafa. “Vitamin C and Cancer: The Role of Vitamin C in Disease Progression and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients.”  Nutrition and Cancer 25, 1-11. Online publication date: 21-Jul-2020. 

(2020) Anderson, Paul. “Intravenous Ascorbate and oncological agents.” 

(2020) Park, Hyunwoo et al. “The Effect of High Dose Intravenous Vitamin C During Radiotherapy on Breast Cancer Patients' Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio.” Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) vol. 26,11 (2020): 1039-1046. doi:10.1089/acm.2020.0138

(2020) Luchtel RA, Bhagat T, Pradhan K, Jacobs WR Jr, Levine M, Verma A, Shenoy N. “High-dose ascorbic acid synergizes with anti-PD1 in a lymphoma mouse model.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Jan 21;117(3):1666-1677. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1908158117. Epub 2020 Jan 7. PMID: 31911474; PMCID: PMC6983418.

(2020) Kaźmierczak-Barańska J, Boguszewska K, Adamus-Grabicka A, Karwowski BT. “Two Faces of Vitamin C-Antioxidative and Pro-Oxidative Agent.” Nutrients. 2020 May 21;12(5):1501. doi: 10.3390/nu12051501. PMID: 32455696; PMCID: PMC7285147.

(2021) Böttger, Franziska et al. “High-dose intravenous vitamin C, a promising multi-targeting agent in the treatment of cancer.” Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR vol. 40,1 343. 30 Oct. 2021, doi:10.1186/s13046-021-02134-y

(2020) Antonio Viana do Nascimento Filho,et al. Vitamin C Protects Against Doxorubicin-Induced Muscle Oxidative Stress.” The FASEB Journal. 13 May 2022, Vol 36, Issue S1.  

https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.S1.R5111. Vitamin C protects against doxorubicin-induced skeletal muscle atrophy and oxidative stress, suggesting a potential approach to management cardio functional disorder in patients under doxorubicin treatment.

(2021) Abiri B, Vafa M. “Vitamin C and Cancer: The Role of Vitamin C in Disease Progression and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients.” Nutr Cancer. 2021;73(8):1282-1292. doi: 10.1080/01635581.2020.1795692. Epub 2020 Jul 21. PMID: 32691657.

(2021) Böttger F, Vallés-Martí A, Cahn L, Jimenez CR. “High-dose intravenous vitamin C, a promising multi-targeting agent in the treatment of cancer.” J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Oct 30;40(1):343. doi: 10.1186/s13046-021-02134-y. PMID: 34717701; PMCID: PMC8557029.

(2022) Mohseni S, Tabatabaei-Malazy O, Ejtahed HS, Qorbani M, Azadbakht L, Khashayar P, Larijani B. “Effect of vitamins C and E on cancer survival; a systematic review.” Daru. 2022 Sep 22. doi: 10.1007/s40199-022-00451-x. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36136247.

(2022) Chen, Zeyu, etal. “Vitamin  Intake and Cancers: An Umbrella Review.” Front. Nutr., 20 January 2022.  Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology. Volume 8-2021. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.812394

(2022) Khazaei S, Nilsson L, Adrian G, Tryggvadottir H, Konradsson E, Borgquist S, Isaksson K, Ceberg C, Jernström H.  “Impact of combining vitamin C with radiation therapy in human breast cancer: does it matter?” Oncotarget. 2022 Feb 22;13:439-453. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.28204. PMID: 35222809; PMCID: PMC8863110.

Vitamin C and Infection

(2007) Hemilä H, Louhiala P. “Vitamin C may affect lung infections.” J R Soc Med. 2007 Nov;100(11):495-8. doi: 10.1177/014107680710001109. PMID: 18048704; PMCID: PMC2099400.

(2012) Kallio J, Jaakkola M, Mäki M, Kilpeläinen P, Virtanen V. “Vitamin C inhibits staphylococcus aureus growth and enhances the inhibitory effect of quercetin on growth of Escherichia coli in vitro.” Planta Med. 2012 Nov;78(17):1824-30. doi: 10.1055/s-0032-1315388. Epub 2012 Oct 11. PMID: 23059632.

(2017) Hemilä H. “Vitamin C and Infections.” Nutrients. 2017 Mar 29;9(4):339. doi: 10.3390/nu9040339. PMID: 28353648; PMCID: PMC5409678.

(2019) Ngo B, Van Riper JM, Cantley LC, Yun J. “Targeting cancer vulnerabilities with high-dose vitamin C.” Nat Rev Cancer. 2019 May;19(5):271-282. doi: 10.1038/s41568-019-0135-7. PMID: 30967651; PMCID: PMC6526932.

(2020) Magrì A, Germano G, Lorenzato A, Lamba S, Chilà R, Montone M, Amodio V, Ceruti T, Sassi F, Arena S, Abrignani S, D'Incalci M, Zucchetti M, Di Nicolantonio F, Bardelli A. “High-dose vitamin C enhances cancer immunotherapy.” Sci Transl Med. 2020 Feb 26;12(532):eaay8707. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aay8707. PMID: 32102933.

(2021) Zasowska-Nowak A, Nowak PJ, Ciałkowska-Rysz A. “High-Dose Vitamin C in Advanced-Stage Cancer Patients.” Nutrients. 2021 Feb 26;13(3):735. doi: 10.3390/nu13030735. PMID: 33652579; PMCID: PMC7996511.

(2021) Böttger F, Vallés-Martí A, Cahn L, Jimenez CR. “High-dose intravenous vitamin C, a promising multi-targeting agent in the treatment of cancer.” J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Oct 30;40(1):343. doi: 10.1186/s13046-021-02134-y. PMID: 34717701; PMCID: PMC8557029.

(2021) Giansanti M, Karimi T, Faraoni I, Graziani G. “High-Dose Vitamin C: Preclinical Evidence for Tailoring Treatment in Cancer Patients.” Cancers (Basel). 2021 Mar 20;13(6):1428. doi: 10.3390/cancers13061428. PMID: 33804775; PMCID: PMC8003833.