ArticleNPJ precision oncology2018
Vitamin C preferentially kills cancer stem cells in hepatocellular carcinoma via SVCT-2.
Article in NPJ precision oncology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06493370 (Intravenous Ascorbate Plus Gemcitabine/Carboplatin), which is not on this map. Cited by 59 papers.
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.
Intravenous Ascorbate Plus Gemcitabine/Carboplatin: A Novel and Cost-Effective Alternative With Evident Efficacy in Patients With Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
Who cites it
59 citing papers in PubMed, 172 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Single-Cell Analysis Reveals that Vitamin C Inhibits Bone Metastasis of Renal Cancer via Cell Cycle Arrest and Microenvironment Remodeling.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Estrogen receptor α regulates SVCT2 protein level in human breast cancer cells.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Unveiling vitamin C: A new hope in the treatment of diffuse large B‑cell lymphoma (Review).International journal of oncology · 2025Review
- Pharmacological Vitamin C-induced high HJournal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Multimodal combination regimen for a patient with advanced huge hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report.Translational gastroenterology and hepatology · 2025Article
- The level of active DNA demethylation compounds in leukocytes and urine samples as potential epigenetic biomarkers in breast cancer patients.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- TET2-mediated tumor cGAS triggers endothelial STING activation to regulate vasculature remodeling and anti-tumor immunity in liver cancer.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Orange-derived extracellular vesicles nanodrugs for efficient treatment of ovarian cancer assisted by transcytosis effect.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2023Article
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- "Double-edged sword" effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in tumor development and carcinogenesis.Physiological research · 2023Review
- Biochemical and pathophysiological improvements in rats with thioacetamide induced-hepatocellular carcinoma using aspirin plus vitamin C.BMC cancer · 2023Article
- Pharmacological vitamin C inhibits mTOR signaling and tumor growth by degrading Rictor and inducing HMOX1 expression.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Oxidized mC modulates synthetic lethality to PARP inhibitors for the treatment of leukemia.Cell reports · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid, ascorbate, VC) is a potential chemotherapeutic agent for cancer patients. However, the anti-tumor effects of pharmacologic VC on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver cancer stem cells (CSCs) remain to be fully elucidated. Panels of human HCC cell lines as well as HCC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models were employed to investigate the anti-tumor effects of pharmacologic VC. The use of VC and the risk of HCC recurrence were examined retrospectively in 613 HCC patients who received curative liver resection as their initial treatment. In vitro and in vivo experiments further demonstrated that clinically achievable concentrations of VC induced cell death in liver cancer cells and the response to VC was correlated with sodium-dependent vitamin C transporter 2 (SVCT-2) expressions. Mechanistically, VC uptake via SVCT-2 increased intracellular ROS, and subsequently caused DNA damage and ATP depletion, leading to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Most importantly, SVCT-2 was highly expressed in liver CSCs, which promoted their self-renewal and rendered them more sensitive to VC. In HCC cell lines xenograft models, as well as in PDX models, VC dramatically impaired tumor growth and eradicated liver CSCs. Finally, retrospective cohort study showed that intravenous VC use was linked to improved disease-free survival (DFS) in HCC patients (adjusted HR = 0.622, 95% CI 0.487 to 0.795,
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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.