For the first time, a series of studies, culminating in the 2017 Sen et. al. study has found that cancer stem cells, which grow too slowly to be killed by conventional cancer therapies, can be killed by vitamin C.

Too low dosages causes CSC proliferation – e.g. the what the government RDA and what the Pauling institute recommend.

We are of the opinion this means Sen et. al. should get the Nobel prize in medicine and that every cancer patient needs to start taking at least 1 gram of vitamin C every 2 hours!

Medicine professes to rely on science for the betterment of their patients.

The latest science, from around the world, is compelling and thorough. We now know, for the first time, that the reason cancer patients have relapses after their aggressive malignancy is treated with chemo/radiation – are because the slower growing Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) are not killed. However, these cells, the seeds of cancer, can be killed by a specific concentration of vitamin C (and vitamin B3).

Low ordinary dosages causes these stem cells to proliferate.

What this means is that leading edge doctors,  brought up to speed and introduced to the science, will overcome their education and bias and begin recommending to their cancer patients that they supplement vitamin C.  This supplementation should  avoid aggressive regrowth of their cancers.

Because of the internet, many if not most patients already know the value of vitamin C w/Cancer, but are afraid to discuss it with MDs.  Any practice the recommends vitamin C (along with standard care) will appear open minded and gain the confidence of their cancer patients.

We understand a doctor not wanting to “sell” vitamin C out of their office, although many do, but it is not available under prescription. Our company provides a high quality option, as do compounding pharmacies.

These Supplements aren’t FDA approved – How can we sell/recommend them?

Dietary supplements are most certainly regulated by the FDA, although the claims that can be made are severely limited. While Vitamin C is not, and probably will never be, officially approved by the FDA for the use of killing CSCs, vitamin C is otherwise harmless, with no lethal toxic dosage (e.g. there is no LDL50). Technically, water is more toxic than vitamin C.  Note: Doctors often use drugs for purposes other than what the FDA approved them for.

There are ongoing FDA sponsored investigations of high dose intravenous vitamin C and its effect supporting conventional therapies, so high dose vitamin C may be approved for the more conventional use against malignancies.

These Supplements Haven’t been tested for Drug Interactions

As far as drug interactions, everyone requires vitamin C to exist, so all drugs must co-exist with some amount of vitamin C. The only issue is dosage, and from our experience, there are no significant adverse reactions with any drugs at higher dosages.

Several investigations have shown that vitamin C contributes to patient well-being, and does no harm to conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation.

Insurance Won’t Cover the Patient’s Vitamin C Expense

Vitamin C is far less expensive that most prescription drugs,  and most oncology groups could afford to simply give vitamin C away to their patients.   Another option is write the script for vitamin C and advise patients to open up Health Care Savings accounts.

Final Note: Vitamin C Science is not currently Taught in Medical School

No USA educated MD is taught anything about vitamin C (other than its role in the deficiency disease scurvy). Linus Pauling tried to educate the medical profession, but was ridiculed. We believe that part of our function is training, helping medical doctors come up to speed on the more than 100,000 medical studies/reports and articles about vitamin C that have been published since the 1930s.

To that end, here is our “powerpoint”-style slide show on the recent Vitamin C Cancer Stem Cell science

Vitamin C versus CSC Seminar Presentation

References

Stem cells, cancer, and cancer stem cells, Tannishtha Reya, Sean J. Morrison, Michael F. Clarke & Irving L. Weissman ,Nature 414, 105-111 (1 November 2001) | doi:10.1038/35102167

Opposing effects of low versus high concentrations of water soluble vitamins/dietary ingredients Vitamin C and niacin on colon cancer stem cells (CSCs), Utsav Sen, Sudheer Shenoy P, Bipasha Bose, Cell Biol Int. 2017 Oct;41(10):1127-1145. doi: 10.1002/cbin.10830. Epub 2017 Aug 24.

Vitamin C and Doxycycline: A synthetic lethal combination therapy targeting metabolic flexibility in cancer stem cells (CSCs), Ernestina Marianna De Francesco, Gloria Bonuccelli, Marcello Maggiolini, Federica Sotgia and Michael P. Lisanti, , Oncotarget. 2017; 8:67269-67286. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.18428

Antibiotics that target mitochondria effectively eradicate cancer stem cells, across multiple tumor types: Treating cancer like an infectious disease, Rebecca Lamb, Bela Ozsvari1*, Camilla L. Lisanti, Herbert B. Tanowitz, Anthony Howell, Ubaldo E. Martinez-Outschoorn, Federica Sotgia and Michael P. Lisanti,,Oncotarget. 2015; 6:4569-4584. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.3174

Ascorbate regulates haematopoietic stem cell function and leukaemogenesis, Agathocleous M, Meacham CE, Burgess RJ, Piskounova E, Zhao Z, Crane GM, Cowin BL, Bruner E, Murphy MM, Chen W, Spangrude GJ, Hu Z, DeBerardinis RJ, Morrison SJ. Nature. 2017 Sep 28;549(7673):476-481. doi: 10.1038/nature23876. Epub 2017 Aug 21.  PMID: 28825709

Restoration of TET2 Function Blocks Aberrant Self-Renewal and Leukemia Progression, Cimmino, Luisa; Dolgalev, Igor; Wang, Yubao; Yoshimi, Akihide; Martin, Gaelle H; Wang, Jingjing; Ng, Victor; Xia, Bo; Witkowski, Matthew T; Mitchell-Flack, Marisa; Grillo, Isabella; Bakogianni, Sofia; Ndiaye- Lobry, Delphine; Martin, Miguel Torres. Cell. 2017 Aug 17; 170(6):1079-1095.e20

Glycohaemoglobin and ascorbic acid, Cheryl A Krone, John A Ely, Journal of the New Zealand Medical Association, 23-August-2002, Vol 115 No 1160.

Pharmacologic doses of ascorbate act as a prooxidant and decrease growth of aggressive tumor xenografts in mice, Qi Chen, Michael Graham Espey, Andrew Y. Sun, Chaya Pooput, Kenneth L. Kirk, Murali C. Krishna, Deena Beneda Khosh,‖ Jeanne Drisko,‖ and Mark Levine, , Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 12; 105(32):11105–11109. Published online 2008 Aug 4. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0804226105 PMCID: PMC2516281

Changes of terminal cancer patients’ health-related quality of life after high dose vitamin C administration, Yeom CH1, Jung GC, Song KJ.,, J Korean Med Sci. 2007 Feb;22(1):7-11.

Antioxidant intake from diet and supplements and risk of digestive cancers in middle-aged adults: results from the prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort. Egnell, M., et al. (2017).  British Journal of Nutrition. doi:10.1017/S0007114517002392