Researchers have found that a highly concentrated vitamin C dose is “selectively” toxic to cancer cells effectively destroying them leaving healthy tissue unharmed.
Research shows that cancer cells produce energy primary through an anaerobic process. Anaerobic energy production thrives in a low oxygen environment. Poor cell respiration causes low oxygen levels in the cells. Research has found this is the reason cancer thrives on sugar. Using the sugar as an energy source. Yet when this treatment was coupled with the addition of catalase (an enzyme), the cancer-killing effect was reduced significantly. This led researchers to believe that the high-dose vitamin C infusion resulted in production of large quantities of hydrogen peroxide, which initially caused a cancer-killing effect that was then neutralized by the catalase.
Researchers lconcluded that cancer cells do not produce sufficient catalase to neutralize high levels of hydrogen peroxide on their own.
We now know that many cancer cells produce small amounts of catalase to sustain low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. This creates the cancer-friendly environment of mild oxidative stress that encourages rapid growth of and further aggression by malignant cells. Fortunately, because a high proportion of cancers are only able to produce small amounts of catalase, they’re vulnerable to the cancer-killing effect exhibited by high levels of hydrogen peroxide.
A high dose and rapid IV infusion of vitamin C reacts spontaneously with molecular oxygen within tumors, generating large amounts of hydrogen peroxide, lethal to tumor cells that produce only small amounts of catalase.
Research has demonstrated that doses of 10 to 20 grams would need to be administered to consistently achieve a vitamin-C concentration sufficient to provoke oxidation at level adequate to effect tumor cells beneficially.
A number of published case reports, which show that repeated high-dose IV treatments yield objective tumor regression, are so compelling that NIH clinical trials are formally evaluating intravenous vitamin C therapy. Currently, we continue to look at dosing and treatment intervals as studies suggest that multiple, staged, and intermittent treatments may produce better anti-tumor effects than long high-dose single treatments. This will also protect the kidneys from becoming saturated. At Oasis of Hope we’re utilizing protocols with multiple treatments and pauses between doses to maintain the level of vitamin C within an optimal therapeutic window.
In theory, high-dose vitamin C should not cause toxic damage to healthy tissue because the body produces sufficient amounts of catalase to efficiently neutralize the hydrogen peroxide produced. Our experience supports the theory. We’ve treated hundreds of patients in this manner with no side effects, and our current protocol ensures vitamin-C blood and tissue levels that are safe and effective to kill cancer cells.
Yet a burning question remains. Why doesn’t this therapy work for everyone? Three variables can undermine its effectiveness.
First, some tumors produce larger amounts of catalase, which neutralizes the oxidizing effect of hydrogen peroxide.
Second, sometimes there are insufficient catalysts to promote the necessary transfer of electrons.
Third, sometimes in the extracellular space there is insufficient oxygen, which is needed for vitamin C to produce hydrogen peroxide.
For now, scientists have not found a way to selectively block production of catalase within tumors. However, we can definitively increase this therapy’s effectiveness by providing two supporting agents: electron transfer catalysts and tumor oxygenating agents.
Specific Benefits: Vitamins C and K3
Vitamin C’s ability to generate hydrogen peroxide in tumors hinges on the presence of catalysts that can transfer electrons from the vitamin to oxygen molecules, generating an unstable compound superoxide, which rapidly converts to the hydrogen peroxide that has cancer-killing properties.
One such well-known catalyst is menadione, also known as vitamin K3 . Substantial research in both rodent and human studies demonstrates that supplementing intravenous vitamin C with injectable vitamin K3 increases the therapy’s effectiveness on cancer cells.
A vitamin C/K3 combination can interact synergistically with certain cytotoxic chemo drugs in killing cancer cells. Vitamin K3 alone can increase the cytotoxicity of certain chemo agents, presumably because, in sufficiently high concentrations, K3 help generate oxidative stress by transferring electrons from intracellular molecules to oxygen.
At the Oasis of Hope we inject vitamin K3 just prior to the vitamin C infusions, with the hope and expectation that C/K3 combination will markedly increase the production of hydrogen peroxide within tumors, enabling a more substantial cell kill in those cancers that produce sufficiently small amounts of catalase.
While vitamin K3 is an excellent electron transfer catalyst, the effectiveness of intravenous vitamin C therapy can still be crippled if oxygen levels within the tumor are poor. (Remember: Many common tumors create a hypoxic environment, so it’s necessary to introduce agents that can efficiently oxygenate them.)