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Vitamin C might be bad for cancer patients: A new study on antioxidants and tumors
03.10.2023 10:10
Updated: 13.05.2024 21:23
Antioxidants like vitamin C can be extremely beneficial for your health, but sometimes they can also do harm - but why?
It turns out that vitamin C can stimulate tumor growth in cancer patients, so they should be careful with it.
Let's find out more about the study that shows it.
A controversial vitamin
A new study from the Karolinska Institutet has found that vitamin C and other antioxidants can cause lung cancer tumors to form new blood vessels.
This discovery challenges the previous belief that antioxidants have a protective effect against cancer.
Instead, it suggests that dietary supplements with antioxidants may actually speed up the growth and spread of tumors.
The study also revealed a previously unknown mechanism involving a protein called BACH1, which is stabilized by antioxidants like vitamin C and E.
This protein plays a role in the formation of new blood vessels in tumors, even when there's enough oxygen.
Normally, low oxygen levels are required for this process, but this research shows that antioxidants can trigger it even in normal oxygen conditions.
Why it's important
The study suggests that understanding the levels of BACH1 in tumors could help determine the effectiveness of anti-angiogenesis therapy, a treatment that aims to stop the growth of blood vessels in tumors.
Tumors with high BACH1 levels might respond better to this therapy.
The researchers used various methods, including the study of lung cancer tumors grown in the lab and tests on mice, as well as samples from human breast and kidney tumors.
They hope to continue exploring how oxygen and antioxidants affect BACH1 and how this discovery can be applied to different types of cancer.
