Vitamin C plays an important role in keeping the immune system healthy, helping wounds heal, and protecting cells from damage. However, people with precancerous blood disorders and blood cancers often have persistently low vitamin C levels. Researchers have been investigating whether correcting this deficiency could improve their health and treatment outcomes.
New findings from the phase 2 EVITA clinical trial suggest that vitamin C supplementation may offer important benefits for people with precancerous blood conditions and early-stage blood cancers. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted by the Van Andel Institute-Stand Up To Cancer® Epigenetics Dream Team. The results, published in the American Cancer Society journal CANCER, revealed that patients who received 1,000 mg of oral vitamin C every day for one year experienced fewer adverse events during the study and its follow-up period.
The supplement also changed the levels of certain immune signaling molecules, known as cytokines, in ways associated with more favorable outcomes. These changes suggest that vitamin C could influence inflammation-related processes involved in the growth and progression of abnormal blood cells. Although vitamin C did not significantly affect the rate at which abnormal blood cells expanded, the researchers identified an encouraging result.
An exploratory analysis showed that participants who received vitamin C were significantly more likely to be alive after approximately three years of follow-up than those who took a placebo. Scientists emphasize that this potential survival benefit must be verified in a larger phase 3 clinical trial. Vitamin C Shows Promise for Patients at Risk of Leukemia "We are tremendously excited and cautiously optimistic that our results could one day translate into a simple way to improve care and outcomes for people with pre-leukemia disorders," said Peter A.
Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon), a distinguished professor at Van Andel Institute. Jones is also a co-corresponding author of the research and co-leader of the VAI-SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team. "Our approach reflects a growing emphasis on cancer interception -- intervening before cancer becomes established.
We are working to build on the trial findings by exploring how exactly vitamin C interacts with pre-cancerous cells, including the idea that it may help restore normal epigenetic function in blood cells at risk of becoming leukemia." The international research effort was led by Kirsten Grønbæk, M.D., Ph.D., a leading hematologist, professor at the University of Copenhagen, and member of the VAI-SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team. "These exciting preliminary findings lay the groundwork for a larger clinical trial to explore vitamin C as a possible way to improve patient outcomes," said Grønbæk. "It is too early to make definitive recommendations based on our results, but we are hopeful that a more expansive study will provide further insights." First Clinical Trial Tests Daily Vitamin C for Precancerous Blood Disorders The study enrolled 109 patients with either clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance (CCUS) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).
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