Trial reportProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2008
Pharmacologic doses of ascorbate act as a prooxidant and decrease growth of aggressive tumor xenografts in mice.
Trial report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 370 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Phase 2 Study of High Dose Ascorbic Acid in Solid Tumor Disease
Intravenous Ascorbate Plus Gemcitabine/Carboplatin: A Novel and Cost-Effective Alternative With Evident Efficacy in Patients With Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
Who cites it
370 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 844 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical benefits and risks of high-dose intravenous vitamin C: a systematic review.Journal of medicine and life · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Circulating vitamin C concentration and risk of cancers: a Mendelian randomization study.BMC medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Effect of Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) in the Treatment of Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2019Pooled it
- High-Dose Intravenous Vitamin C Combined with Docetaxel in Men with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Phase II Trial.Cancer research communications · 2024Trial
- Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Intravenous Vitamin C: A Classic Pharmacokinetic Study.Clinical pharmacokinetics · 2022Trial
- Pharmacological ascorbate improves the response to platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer.Redox biology · 2022Trial
- Metabolites and cancer metastasis.Oncogene · 2026Review
- Reactive Oxygen Species in Breast Cancer: From Redox Dysregulation to ROS-Responsive Therapeutics.Cell biochemistry and function · 2026Review
- Exploiting vitamin C as a prooxidant to activate ROS-responsive prodrugs for potent and selective tumor killing.Redox biology · 2026Article
- Ascorbate-driven quinone redox cycling as a pro-oxidant anticancer strategy.Redox biology · 2026Review
- Review
- Glutathione for skin lightening via intravenous, oral, and topical routes: a critical narrative review of current evidence, safety, and the evidence-practice gap.Journal of medicine and life · 2026Review
- The Redox Paradox of Natural Supplements in Cancer: A Narrative Review to Guide Clinical Practice.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Pharmacological Ascorbate Restrains Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Invasion in Glioblastoma Cells via Extracellular HInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- High-dose vitamin C: A promising anti-tumor agent, insight from mechanisms, clinical research, and challenges.Genes & diseases · 2026Review
- Targeting Skin Aging at Multiple Fronts: Integrated In Silico and In Vitro Evidence of Antioxidant, Anti-Protease, and UVB-Protective Effects ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Review
- A Comprehensive Review of Vitamin C for Cancer Therapy: Anti-Tumor Mechanisms and Nano-Formulation Strategies.International journal of nanomedicine · 2026Review
310 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient commonly regarded as an antioxidant. In this study, we showed that ascorbate at pharmacologic concentrations was a prooxidant, generating hydrogen-peroxide-dependent cytotoxicity toward a variety of cancer cells in vitro without adversely affecting normal cells. To test this action in vivo, normal oral tight control was bypassed by parenteral ascorbate administration. Real-time microdialysis sampling in mice bearing glioblastoma xenografts showed that a single pharmacologic dose of ascorbate produced sustained ascorbate radical and hydrogen peroxide formation selectively within interstitial fluids of tumors but not in blood. Moreover, a regimen of daily pharmacologic ascorbate treatment significantly decreased growth rates of ovarian (P < 0.005), pancreatic (P < 0.05), and glioblastoma (P < 0.001) tumors established in mice. Similar pharmacologic concentrations were readily achieved in humans given ascorbate intravenously. These data suggest that ascorbate as a prodrug may have benefits in cancers with poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.