A new study showed that in some patients receiving intravenously high doses of vitamin C in parallel with chemotherapy, the effectiveness of the latter increases, as well as the toxicity of chemotherapy decreases, according to the Internet publication for girls and women from 14 to 35 years old Pannochka. net About the experiments on the culture of cells, animals and humans reported in the last issue of Science Translational Medicine researchers from the Medical Center of Kansas University (KU).

The researchers found that intravenous administration of vitamin C together with carboplatin and paclitaxel, two traditional chemotherapeutic drugs, stopped ovarian cancer in vitro and reduced the incidence of chemotherapy side effects in patients with ovarian cancer.

Since the 1970s, ascorbic acid has been used in the West as an alternative treatment for cancer. It is not only characterized by an "excellent safety profile," but, according to the researchers, appears in several almost anecdotal reports on the effectiveness of cancer.

In spite of everything, specialists in alternative therapy persistently continue to recommend vitamin C for the treatment of cancer. Oncologists, however, refused to use this drug after several clinical trials of oral vitamin C, which did not confirm its effectiveness.

A new study by Kansas scientists has revived the belief in the possible effectiveness of vitamin C, but this time it is already an intravenous introduction. It is intravenous vitamin C that can enhance efficacy and reduce the toxicity of traditional chemotherapy.

Chief author of the study, Qi Chen, a senior lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacotherapy at Kansas University, explains: "We discovered that due to its pharmacokinetic characteristics, intravenous vitamin C, in contrast to the oral form, kills some cancer cells without harm to normal cells ".

During their study, they recorded 27 volunteers who had recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer stage 3 or 4. All of them received traditional chemotherapy with paclitaxel or carboplatin, but some also received large doses of ascorbic acid intravenously. The observation lasted 5 years.

The researchers found that in patients receiving supplemental ascorbic acid, the toxic effects of chemotherapy were less pronounced.

In another experiment, scientists confirmed that vitamin C kills cancer cells in laboratory mice with ovarian cancer induced, but only at high concentrations that can be achieved with intravenous administration. They did not notice any toxic effects of chemotherapy or changes in the liver, kidney and spleen in animals.

When scientists tried to understand what is happening at the molecular level, they discovered an interesting phenomenon: the molecules of ascorbic acid surround tumor cells and act as a "pro-oxidant", promoting the formation of free radicals and the death of cancer cells.

In a further study of this pathway, they confirmed that vitamin C induces oxidative damage to the DNA of ovarian cancer cells, but for some reason does not affect healthy cells.

The co-author of the study, Dr. Jeanne Drisko, an expert in integrative medicine, says: "We now understand the essence of the anti-cancer effect of vitamin C, as well as its safety profile. Together, these data provide us with a strong evidence base to organize major clinical trials, confirm our findings and add vitamin C to traditional cancer chemotherapy ".

medbe. en.