抗坏血酸有效治疗多发性骨髓瘤

在ebiomedicine 中报道的研究表明，药理学剂量的抗坏血酸 (ascorbic acid or ascorbate)（通过静脉注射递送的每次治疗50至100克）可以有效治疗多发性骨髓瘤(multiple myeloma)。

该研究发现通过静脉注射的高剂量的抗坏血酸杀死多发性骨髓瘤细胞。当与美法仑(melphalan)一起使用抗坏血酸时，可以显着降低化疗剂量以提供相同的疗效。这是非常有益的，因为高剂量化疗对于多发性骨髓瘤患者可能是致死的，因为其对癌细胞和健康细胞具有高度的细胞毒性。

该研究进一步发现抗坏血酸引起细胞凋亡诱导因子1清除，同时对正常细胞没有影响。所以抗癌作用是高选择性的。发现通过静脉注射的高剂量的抗坏血酸能够抑制多发性骨髓瘤异种移植小鼠中的肿瘤形成。

此外，高浓度的铁可提高抗坏血酸的抗癌作用，这可能是因为当抗坏血酸作为促氧化剂促进氧化时，铁可以作为催化剂促进自由基的形成。

该研究表明，通过静脉注射递送的高剂量抗坏血酸在体内和体外对多发性骨髓瘤癌细胞产生抗癌作用。(刘大卫)

A study reported in ebiomedicine  indicated that pharmacologically-dosed ascorbic acid (50 to 100 grams per treatment delivered via IV injection) can be effective at treating multiple myeloma.

The study found high doses of ascorbic acid kills multiple myeloma cells. When ascorbic acid was used along with melphalan, the chemotherapy dosage could be significantly lowered to render the same efficacy. This is highly beneficial because high-dose chemotherapy can be lethal to the patients with multiple myeloma due to its highly cytotoxicity to both cancerous cells and healthy cells.

The study further found ascorbic acid causes apoptosis-inducing factor 1 clearage while having no effect on normal cells. So the anticancer effect is highly selective. The high doses of ascorbic acid alone were found able to inhibit tumor formation in multiple myeloma xenograft mice.

Additionally, high concentrations of iron boost the anticancer effect of ascorbic acid, which may be because iron can as a catalyst boost the formation of free radicals when ascorbic acid as a pro-oxidant promotes oxidation.

This study demonstrated that ascorbic acid in high doses delivered via IV injection exerts an anticancer effect against multiple myeloma cancer cells in vivo and in vitro. (David Liu)