Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

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MDPI, Cancers, 6(13), p. 1428, 2021

DOI: 10.3390/cancers13061428

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High-Dose Vitamin C: Preclinical Evidence for Tailoring Treatment in Cancer Patients

Journal article published in 2021 by Manuela Giansanti ORCID, Terry Karimi, Isabella Faraoni ORCID, Grazia Graziani ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

High-dose vitamin C has been proposed as a potential therapeutic approach for patients with advanced tumors who failed previous treatment with chemotherapy. Due to vitamin C complex pharmacokinetics, only intravenous administration allows reaching sufficiently high plasma concentrations required for most of the antitumor effects observed in preclinical studies (>0.250 mM). Moreover, vitamin C entry into cells is tightly regulated by SVCT and GLUT transporters, and is cell type-dependent. Importantly, besides its well-recognized pro-oxidant effects, vitamin C modulates TET enzymes promoting DNA demethylation and acts as cofactor of HIF hydroxylases, whose activity is required for HIF-1α proteasomal degradation. Furthermore, at pharmacological concentrations lower than those required for its pro-oxidant activity (<1 mM), vitamin C in specific genetic contexts may alter the DNA damage response by increasing 5-hydroxymethylcytosine levels. These more recently described vitamin C mechanisms offer new treatment opportunities for tumors with specific molecular defects (e.g., HIF-1α over-expression or TET2, IDH1/2, and WT1 alterations). Moreover, vitamin C action at DNA levels may provide the rationale basis for combination therapies with PARP inhibitors and hypomethylating agents. This review outlines the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of vitamin C to be taken into account in designing clinical studies that evaluate its potential use as anticancer agent.