ReviewNature reviews. Cancer2019
Targeting cancer vulnerabilities with high-dose vitamin C.
Review in Nature reviews. Cancer, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 192 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
192 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 417 citations in OpenAlex.
- Circulating vitamin C concentration and risk of cancers: a Mendelian randomization study.BMC medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Inflammation and carcinogenesis: molecular targets and small-molecule intervention strategies.Journal of enzyme inhibition and medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
- Combined Molecular Hydrogen and Vitamin C Treatment in Irradiated Normal and Cancer Cell Models: An Exploratory In Vitro Study and Case Reports.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Targeting Reactive Species Stress and Nutrient Sensing to Enhance NK-Cell Function: Mechanistic Strategies for Overcoming Pancreatic Cancer Progression and Resistance Through Supplement Therapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Fractionated high-dose vitamin c sustains higher plasma trough concentrations in advanced solid tumors: a phase I clinical study.Translational oncology · 2026Article
- Nutrition as Modulator of Oxidative Stress in Cancer Prevention and Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Beyond redox: vitamin C in signaling, epigenetic regulation and protein modification-relevance to cancer therapy.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Review
- Mitochondria-transliterated ALDH1L1 functions as a feedback regulator of redox homeostasis in cancer cells to enhance the resistance to pro-oxidative therapy.Cell death and differentiation · 2026Article
- High-dose vitamin C: A promising anti-tumor agent, insight from mechanisms, clinical research, and challenges.Genes & diseases · 2026Review
- Review
- Pathophysiology of reactive oxygen species (ROS).Archives of toxicology · 2026Review
- Reductive stress in cancer immunology and targeted therapy.Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica · 2026Review
- Impact of oxidative stress on malignant tumor progression and emerging therapeutic strategies.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2026Review
- The role of antioxidants in multiple myeloma: diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic applications: a narrative review.Therapeutic advances in hematology · 2026Review
- Dehydroascorbic Acid Induces Cell Death in Sarcoma Stem Cells Under bFGF-Mediated Stemness-Supporting Conditions.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Progress in the design of ascorbic acid derivative-mediated drug delivery.RSC advances · 2025Review
- The Redox Paradox: Cancer's Double-Edged Sword for Malignancy and Therapy.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- High-dose ascorbic acid selectively induces pyroptosis in LKB1-deficient lung cancer and sensitizes immunotherapy.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Article
- Ascorbic Acid-Derived Supramolecular Gels Induce Immunogenic Ferroptosis in Cancer Cells to Potentiate Tumor Immunotherapy.ACS nano · 2025Article
- Effects of antioxidants on cancer progression.EMBO molecular medicine · 2025Review
132 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Over the past century, the notion that vitamin C can be used to treat cancer has generated much controversy. However, new knowledge regarding the pharmacokinetic properties of vitamin C and recent high-profile preclinical studies have revived interest in the utilization of high-dose vitamin C for cancer treatment. Studies have shown that pharmacological vitamin C targets many of the mechanisms that cancer cells utilize for their survival and growth. In this Opinion article, we discuss how vitamin C can target three vulnerabilities many cancer cells share: redox imbalance, epigenetic reprogramming and oxygen-sensing regulation. Although the mechanisms and predictive biomarkers that we discuss need to be validated in well-controlled clinical trials, these new discoveries regarding the anticancer properties of vitamin C are promising to help identify patient populations that may benefit the most from high-dose vitamin C therapy, developing effective combination strategies and improving the overall design of future vitamin C clinical trials for various types of cancer.
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.