ArticleCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2006
Intravenously administered vitamin C as cancer therapy: three cases.
Article in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 251 citations in OpenAlex.
- A quantitative meta-analysis of vitamin C in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Is there a role for oral or intravenous ascorbate (vitamin C) in treating patients with cancer? A systematic review.The oncologist · 2015Pooled it
- Vitamin C for preventing and treating tetanus.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- High-dose intravenous vitamin C combined with cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with advanced cancer: a phase I-II clinical trial.PloS one · 2015Trial
- Effect of high dose intravenous vitamin C on idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss: a prospective single-blind randomized controlled trial.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2013Trial
- Pharmacologic doses of ascorbate act as a prooxidant and decrease growth of aggressive tumor xenografts in mice.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2008Trial
- Review
- Vitamin C Selectively Inhibits Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma Cell Growth by Suppressing the HIF-1 Pathway.OncoTargets and therapy · 2025Article
- Hemolysis attributed to high dose vitamin C: Two case reports.World journal of clinical cases · 2024Article
- A Bioinspired Flexible Sensor for Electrochemical Probing of Dynamic Redox Disequilibrium in Cancer Cells.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2023Article
- Vitamin-based radiopharmaceuticals for tumor imaging.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2023Review
- Oxidized mC modulates synthetic lethality to PARP inhibitors for the treatment of leukemia.Cell reports · 2023Article
- Ascorbate as a Bioactive Compound in Cancer Therapy: The Old Classic Strikes Back.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- High-Dose Vitamin C for Cancer Therapy.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The Interplay of Ascorbic Acid with Quinones-Chelators-Influence on Lipid Peroxidation: Insight into Anticancer Activity.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Bias against Vitamin C in Mainstream Medicine: Examples from Trials of Vitamin C for Infections.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- 5-methylcytosine turnover: Mechanisms and therapeutic implications in cancer.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2022Review
- Diverse antitumor effects of ascorbic acid on cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Review
- Ascorbic acid detector based on fluorescent molybdenum disulfide quantum dots.Mikrochimica acta · 2021Article
- A novel strategy for sensitive and rapid detection of ascorbic acidRSC advances · 2021Article
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Early clinical studies showed that high-dose vitamin C, given by intravenous and oral routes, may improve symptoms and prolong life in patients with terminal cancer. Double-blind placebo-controlled studies of oral vitamin C therapy showed no benefit. Recent evidence shows that oral administration of the maximum tolerated dose of vitamin C (18 g/d) produces peak plasma concentrations of only 220 micromol/L, whereas intravenous administration of the same dose produces plasma concentrations about 25-fold higher. Larger doses (50-100 g) given intravenously may result in plasma concentrations of about 14,000 micromol/L. At concentrations above 1000 micromol/L, vitamin C is toxic to some cancer cells but not to normal cells in vitro. We found 3 well-documented cases of advanced cancers, confirmed by histopathologic review, where patients had unexpectedly long survival times after receiving high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy. We examined clinical details of each case in accordance with National Cancer Institute (NCI) Best Case Series guidelines. Tumour pathology was verified by pathologists at the NCI who were unaware of diagnosis or treatment. In light of recent clinical pharmacokinetic findings and in vitro evidence of anti-tumour mechanisms, these case reports indicate that the role of high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy in cancer treatment should be reassessed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.