Vitamin C combined with antibiotics can destroy cancer stem cells

Recent research results by scientists are encouraging signs that open the door to new cancer treatments.

As we all know, cancer is a terrible disease and most of them have no cure except for some that can be pushed back such as breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer... The common treatment methods currently applied are radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery but there is still no way to maximize the effectiveness and save the patient's life.

Recently, scientists at the University of Salford in Manchester, England, announced research results confirming that vitamin C and antibiotics can fight cancer cells and even kill them.

The researchers injected high doses of the antibiotic doxycycline into cancer cells for three months. They then used vitamin C to reduce the cancer cells’ energy source to a bare minimum, leaving only glucose. After the attack, vitamin C inhibits most of the energy-producing processes, severely weakening the cancer cells, although it cannot kill them. The researchers then took away glucose, effectively starving the cancer cells.

According to research published in the journal Oncotarget, when vitamin C is combined with the antibiotic doxycycline, it increases the ability to kill cancer cells 10 times more than conventional treatments. This is the result obtained based on research last March that vitamin C alone can prevent the growth of cancer stem cells 10 times more than the experimental drug 2-DG.

In 2015, Professor Lisanti of the University of Salford studied the effects of antibiotics on the mitochondria of cancer stem cells. He and his colleagues used five antibiotics, including doxycycline, on cell lines from eight different types of tumors and found that four of them killed cancer stem cells in every test, including glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain tumor, as well as lung, prostate, ovarian, breast, pancreatic and melanoma.

In the lab, antibiotics do not cause harmful effects on normal cells, and because the drugs are already approved for use in humans, testing new treatments is simpler than testing new drugs — saving time and money.

Previous clinical trials of antibiotics — intended to treat cancer-related infections, not cancer cells — have also shown positive treatment effects in cancer patients. These trials were conducted in patients with metastatic or treatment-resistant cancers.

Vitamin C and antibiotics combined increase the ability to kill cancer cells 100 times more than current treatments. Photo: dailymail

Because vitamin C and doxycycline are both relatively nontoxic, the findings could significantly reduce side effects during cancer treatment.

“The results of this study add to the growing body of evidence that vitamin C and other non-toxic compounds may play an important role in the fight against this devastating disease,” said Professor Lisanti.

It is a promising agent for clinical trials and as an adjunct to more conventional therapies, to prevent tumor recurrence, disease progression and metastasis.”./.

According to afamily