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Vitamin C (aka ascorbic acid, ascorbate) has a long history of being used as an anti-cancer treatment. Dr. Linus Pauling, along with collaborators Cameron and Leibovitz, first published the scientific basis for the use of ascorbic acid as a therapeutic agent against cancer in the journal Cancer Research in 1979. Since then, hundreds of studies have been done to determine the effectiveness of vitamin C on cancer. The majority of these studies have confirmed that vitamin C does, in fact, provide great benefit in the treatment of cancer. These studies have shown that, not only do high dose vitamin C infusions have the ability to be selectively toxic to cancer cells, but that vitamin C may also improve the effectiveness of traditional chemotherapies, such as 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, cisplatin, and paclitaxel (1,2), as well as cause a prolongation of survival times in patients who have been labeled terminal (3).
It is important to understand that oral versus IV vitamin C are two completely different things.

Mechanism of Action:

Cancer cells are different than normal cells. The most recognizable difference is the lack of self control that cancer cells exhibit. In fact, cancer is defined as a disease of uncontrollable cellular division. Another less known difference between cancer cells and normal cells is the content of an enzyme known as catalase that these cells possess. There is a 10-100-fold greater content of catalase in normal cells than in cancer cells (4).
Catalase is an enzyme found throughout the body that has the ability to turn hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into water (H2O) and molecular oxygen (O2) (5). H2O2 + H2O2 à Catalase à H2O + O2

Transport and Uptake:

This difference in catalase concentrations makes hydrogen peroxide much more toxic to cancer cells when compared to normal cells. Therefore, agents which induce hydrogen peroxide generation- such as vitamin C- are preferentially toxic to cancer cells. This has been established both in in vitro (outside a living body) and in vivo (inside a living body) studies(6). Vitamin C is transported in the blood stream in its oxidized form dehydroascorbic acid. This dehydroascorbic acid is then moved inside cells via the action of glucose (sugar) transporters. Once inside the cells the dehydroascorbic acid is changed back into ascorbate and it becomes trapped intracellularly. It is known that tumor cells have an increased need for glucose (sugar), and to compensate for this increased need the cells increase their quantity of glucose transporters (7). This means that cancer cells have more transporters for vitamin C than normal cells. This increase in transporters greatly enhances the entrance of vitamin C into cancer cells and facilitates vitamin C's action as a selective, non-toxic, chemotherapeutic agent.

Dosage:

Concentrations of vitamin C that are toxic to cancer cells are achievable by intravenous administration. The concentration found to be effective for cancer is greater than 400mg/dl in the blood. Infusions of 60 grams (60,000 mg) were shown to briefly elevate plasma levels of vitamin C above 400mg/dl (8). This amount of vitamin C is not possible to achieve by taking oral does of any size. Although vitamin C is essentially free of side effects, it does have the ability to cause diarrhea when high oral doses are taken. Patients receiving intravenous vitamin C do not experience diarrhea as a result of the vitamin C. Maintaining the plasma vitamin C level above 400mg/dl can be achieved by a number of different ways, including increasing the dosage, altering the timing of the IV, or by using a two-bag approach. Plasma levels of vitamin C can be checked via laboratory tests to ensure that optimal levels are being achieved.

Safety:

Vitamin C is essentially nontoxic and not problematic, although there are a couple of places where caution must be exercised. IF you are considering using high dose vitamin C as part of your cancer protocol, make sure that you seek out the guidance of a qualified doctor. As part of your initial blood work, a G6PD (Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase) analysis should be run. This test checks your body's ability to handle oxidative stress. Although adverse reactions are very rare, they can, and have, occurred in people with low levels of G6PD.
Also, if your cancer has spread to multiple locations around the body including the brain please make sure that you are under the supervision of a doctor who is experienced in treating cancer patients with high doses of vitamin C. Some tumors may hemorrhage after being treated with high dose vitamin C, and this could have very serious implications for the person being treated.

Conclusion:

Vitamin C has been proven to be an effective, non-toxic, and tumor specific agent that can be safely incorporated in almost any anticancer protocol. Benefits of vitamin C include:

1. Preferentially kills neoplastic cells.
2. Is virtually non-toxic at any dosage.
3. Does not suppress the immune system (in fact it may increase some parts of it!), unlike most chemotherapy agents.
4. Increases animal and human resistance to infectious agents by enhancing lymphocyte blasogenesis, enhancing cellular immunity, strengthening the extracellular matrix, and enhancing bactericidial activity of neutrophils and modulation of complement protein.
5. Strengthens the structural integrity of the extracellular matrix which is responsible for stromal resistance to malignant invasiveness.