High dose Vitamin C added to chemotherapy benefits cancer patients, according to newly published research. This groundbreaking study may make High Dose Vitamin C a widely recognized therapy in Holistic Cancer Care.
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The Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa has just published a scientific study in the journal Redox Biology that showed that pancreatic cancer patients. who had late stage metastatic disease and received the IV Vitamin C had their survival time increased from eight months to 16 months.
The study participants who were receiving chemotherapy under the care of their oncologists during the time of the study were also given Intravenous Vitamin C at a dose of 75 grams of Vitamin C administered 3 times per week. Compared to patients with similar stage pancreatic cancer who had not received the IV Vitamin C , those who did receive it not only lived longer, but it also extended the time during with the disease did not progress from four to six months.
The study, published in the journal Redox Biology may be a landmark study opening up a valuable new tool to oncologists who are faced with this deadly disease.
STUDY REVIEW
Results from this randomized, phase 2 clinical trial showed that high-dose, Intravenous vitamin C given along with chemotherapy doubles the overall survival of patients with late-stage metastatic pancreatic cancer from eight to sixteen months. Joe Cullen, MD, University of Iowa professor of surgery, and radiation oncology says, “This is a deadly disease with very poor outcomes for patients. The median survival is eight months with treatment, probably less without treatment, and the five-year survival is tiny. When we started the trial, we thought it would be a success if we got to 12 months survival, but we doubled overall survival to 16 months. The results were so strong in showing the benefit of this therapy for patient survival that we were able to stop the trial early.” He added that, ” Not only does it increase overall survival, but the patients seem to feel better with the treatment. They have less side effects, and appear to be able to tolerate more treatment, and we’ve seen that in other trials, too.”
Pancreatic cancer is one of the cancers with the worst prognosis in comparison with many other cancers for which more effective treatment regimens have been discovered over many years of advances in cancer research and care. At this time Pancreatic cancer is mostly incurable, but if
diagnosed early about 10% may become disease-free after treatment. The overall 5 year survival once pancreatic cancer has been diagnosed is now only about 10%. Among those detected early, five year survival is approximately 44%, but once pancreatic cancer is spread to other areas of the body only 1 % of people would be expected to live 5 years. Because of these grim statistics researchers around the world have been hard at work trying to find a reliable way to detect pancreatic cancer early. Most pancreatic cancers are not diagnosed until the cancer is beyond the early stage because it may cause no symptoms at all in its early stages and therefore those suffering from it have no idea, they have any need to see a doctor. By the time symptoms do appear and a person sees a doctor for those symptoms the disease is usually no longer at an early stage.
https://pancan.org/facing-pancreatic-cancer/about-pancreatic-cancer/survival-rate/
The Mayo clinic does have a Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Research Program
They are investigating the use of AI-Artificial Intelligence to accomplish this goal. Other medical centers are also using this new AI technology with the same goal in mind.
At the University of Iowa where the Intravenous Vitamin C study was conducted lead researcher Joseph Cullen, MD, University of Iowa professor of surgery and radiation oncology, calls the study’s conclusions “groundbreaking”. The study is the result of 20 years of research on vitamin C and its healing potential. After testing vitamin C in the lab, the researchers at the U. of Iowa found that using vitamin C in high doses “worked great” in killing cancer cells. Dr Cullen says “We found that at these high doses, ascorbate [vitamin C] actually generates hydrogen peroxide,” Cullen said. “And the hydrogen peroxide is what kills the cancer cells. Not only did extend disease progression free time, and extend survival time, but the cancer patients who received vitamin C also tolerated their chemotherapy treatments with less side effects and felt generally better than those who did not receive the Vitamin C, Dr Cullen remarked that “Vitamin C, which is inexpensive and well-tolerated, may improve the efficacy of chemotherapy with a good quality of life.” since these patients were able to “better tolerate the chemotherapy they were given,… they got more chemotherapy for longer periods of time and larger doses of chemotherapy, which also would kill the tumor cells.” Thus, it can be said that along with its other benefits Vitamin C also enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy itself.
Dr Cullen also believes that Intravenous vitamin C may also help patients with other kinds of cancer, and there are current studies looking into treating lung and brain cancer similarly. Georgios Georgakis, MD is a surgical oncologist at Stony Brook Medical Center in New York, who says that the findings of this study could “potentially be a breakthrough” for cancer patients. “It seems to be working synergistically with chemotherapy.”
Another oncologist Joshua Strauss MD, a medical oncologist from the Advanced Care Oncology and Hematology Associates of the Atlantic Medical Group in Morristown, New Jersey, also supports this avenue of reseacrh. He says, small clinical trials such as this one have recently provided exciting and consistent signals that vitamin C, which is inexpensive and well-tolerated, may improve the efficacy of chemotherapy with a good quality of life.”
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an “essential dietary nutrient” found in a variety of foods such as citrus fruits, broccoli, strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage and spinach. Vitamin C helps with tissue growth and repair, collagen production, wound healing, bone and skin health, and immune support.
In lower doses, vitamin C acts as an antioxidant, and once the body has taken in enough vitamin C, any excess is excreted through the kidneys and won’t be absorbed. Dr Georgakis explains that once the Vitamin C is given at very high levels, it acts as what is known as a pro-oxidant. “So, it actually makes these reactive oxygen species that kill cancer cells well.”
One practical problem that has plagued Natural Medicine’s need for more study is addressed by Dr Cullen who explains that it would take a pharmaceutical company willing to spend many millions of dollars to support the next phase of a clinical study called a phase 3 trial, and continue this research. That is what would be needed before widespread acceptance and FDA approval might be granted. But since Vitamin C is a natural substance found in nature it cannot be patented and exclusively made by any one company to enjoy its profits; how would the research ever get funded. There is currently no answer to that question.
For now, Dr Cullen suggests that cancer patients who wish to explore IV vitamin C should consult their oncologist and seek out Medical doctors who can administer it.
For more information regarding Dr Sobo’s personalized care please see the following information:
https://drsobo.com/iv-vitamin-c-therapy/
https://drsobo.com/iv-vitamin-boosts-chemos-cancer-fighting-power/
Dr Strauss applauded this study saying that he reads the results with “cautious optimism. Pancreatic cancer can be extremely difficult to treat, and I am hopeful whenever I read positive results from a phase 2 study. “Larger randomized phase 3 trials are needed to confirm the results before this is adopted into widespread clinical use.”
Read a more detailed review of this research
High-dose IV vitamin C plus chemotherapy doubles survival in advanced pancreatic cancer
This scientific study published in the November issue of Redox Biology, marks another success for high-dose, intravenous vitamin C, which has overcome many hurdles the 20 years the researchers at the University of Iowa have continued to demonstrate its benefit for cancer patients.
Dr. Cullen who is a member of UI Comprehensive Cancer Center says, “We’ve had ups and downs of course, but this is a culmination of a lot of people’s hard work,” “It’s really a positive thing for patients and for the University of Iowa.”
The study of other cancers using intravenous vitamin C
This new study is not the only one showing the benefits of including IV vitamin C as part of cancer treatment. There is an ongoing phase 2 clinical trial in patients with glioblastoma-brain cancer with a very poor prognosis. That study also documented a significant increase in survival when high-dose, IV vitamin C was added to the standard of care chemotherapy and radiation protocols.
A third phase 2 trial in non-small cell lung cancer is also underway, and the results are expected within the year. These research studies were funded by a 2018 grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr Cullen says, “This NCI funding was incredibly important for us to conduct these phase 2 trials and obtain these really encouraging results. Our aim is to show that adding high-dose, IV vitamin C, which is very inexpensive and very well tolerated, can improve treatment for these cancers that are among the deadliest affecting the U.S. population.
Researchers at the University of Iowa have been researching the anti-cancer effect of high-dose IV vitamin C for over twenty years. Their work explains the critical difference between vitamin C given intravenously versus vitamin C taken orally. Giving vitamin C through an IV produces very high levels in the blood, which cannot be achieved by taking it by mouth. The high concentration of Vitamin achieved in the blood results in chemical reactions within cancer cells that make the cell more vulnerable to chemotherapy and radiation. Dr Cullen says that despite skepticism towards vitamin C as a cancer therapy, the results that he has obtained from basic science findings, to studying the biological mechanisms at work, through the various clinical trials, have been very encouraging. He explained, “Through every step of the process, it continued to improve. We did it in cells, it worked great. We did it in mice, it worked great. Then our phase one trials looked very promising. So, the progression has just been phenomenal, really. For example, in one of our phase 1 trials for pancreatic cancer, where we combine high-dose, IV vitamin C with radiation, we still have three long-term survivors. They’re out nine years at this point, which is far beyond the typical survival range.”
