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Vitamin C has vital role in battle against cancer
Monday 19 July 2010
Vitamin C plays vital role in
battle against cancer
New research from the
University of Otago, Christchurch, shows that vitamin C can
help curb the growth of cancer cells.
The study, led by Associate Professor Margreet Vissers of the University’s Free Radical Research Group, is the first real evidence of a connection between vitamin C and tumour growth.
Associate Professor Vissers says “Our results offer a promising and simple intervention to help in our fight against cancer, at the level of both prevention and cure”.
The article is
in the latest edition of the prestigious Cancer Research
journal.
The role of vitamin C in cancer treatment
has been the subject of debate for years, with many
anecdotal accounts of the beneficial role of vitamin C in
both the prevention and treatment of
cancer.
Previous research by Associate Professor
Vissers has demonstrated the vitamin’s importance in
maintaining cell health and hinted at its potential for
limiting diseases such as cancer.
Her latest study
looked at whether vitamin C levels were lowered in patients
with endometrial tumours.
It investigated whether
the cancer cells had low vitamin C levels and whether this
correlated with tumour aggressiveness and resistance to
chemotherapy. Associate Professor Vissers and her
colleagues found tumours were less able to accumulate
vitamin C compared with normal healthy tissue, and that this
related to the ability of the tumour to survive and grow.
Tumours with low vitamin C levels had more of a
protein called HIF-1 which allows them to thrive in
conditions of stress.
The findings are significant
as they show, for the first time, a direct relationship
between HIF-1 and vitamin C levels in tumours and suggest it
would be beneficial for people with cancer cells to have
more vitamin C. This could help limit the rate of tumour
growth, increase the responsiveness to chemotherapy and may
prevent the formation of solid tumours.
The study was
funded by the University of Otago and the Tertiary Education
Commission.
ends
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