These findings are also in line with the cell culture results where researchers discovered that high Vitamin C dose given to mice suffering from colorectal cancer with the KRAS mutation also stopped cancer growth.
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It was in 1971 that Pauling started collaborating with one of the Scottish physicians who reported success from treating cancer patients using vitamin C. But, Pauling’s idea was dampened after two clinical trials for vitamin C pills, conducted in the late 1970s and 1980s failed.
Vitamin C may one day be harnessed in order to fight colorectal cancer as per a new study.
Yun from John Hopkins University, Baltimore and Lewis Cantley of Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City along with Cantley’s lab and his collaborators noticed that large volumes of vitamin C could indeed eliminate cultured colon cancer cells with FRAF or KRAS mutations.
Scientists have known for a few time that a specific membrane protein, known as glucose transporter GLUT1, enables both glucose and DHA to enter cells, but that ascorbic acid can not do so. The main area which needs to be investigated is of the effects which DHA could have on regular cells when they are absorbed by the human body in high amounts.
This study has shown that DHA is a Trojan horse. But, the natural antioxidants can diminish and cause the cell to die because of oxidative stress.
Dr. Cantley explains that many normal cells express GLUT1, but KRAS- and BRAF-mutant cancer cells typically have much higher levels, since they need a high rate of glucose uptake for survival and growth. This combination of characteristics makes these cancer cells particularly vulnerable to DHA.
Now, new research brings Vitamin C in the spotlight.
Vitamin C has multiple effects on cellular functions in addition to its anti- or pro-oxidant functions, so it will be important to study the effects of high-dose vitamin C on normal and immune cells, said lead author Dr. Jihye Yun, a postdoctoral fellow in Cantley’s lab.
“Further study is definitely needed to expand our understanding of these processes. But now that we know the mechanisms, we can utilize the knowledge wisely to get the desired effects”, she said.
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Dosing recommendations also need to be determined. The idea that vitamin C could be an effective therapy for human cancer holds great appeal, but its track record in this arena has been highly controversial, with clinical studies producing contradictory results. When these mutated cells were exposed to high plasma levels of vitamin C, the researchers found that the cells take in the oxidized form of vitamin C through a certain receptor that happens to be over-expressed in mutated cells.
