Non-Toxic Vitamin C Inhibits Formation Of New Blood Vessel Growth To Tumors

Bio-Communications Research Institute’s (BCRI’s) recent research study has found that high levels of vitamin C (ascorbate) inhibit the formation of new blood vessel growth to tumors.

To grow, tumors rely on a high level of nutrients to flow to the tumor site. This nutrient flow is critical to tumor growth and is facilitated in the host body by the growth of new blood vessels. The new blood vessel growth process is known as angiogenesis. In tumor angiogenesis, the blood vessels grow to support the growth of the tumor. This groundbreaking BCRI study has shown that angiogenesis or the proliferation of new blood vessels, in support of tumor growth, is retarded when high levels of vitamin C are present in the blood. High levels of vitamin C saturation necessary for angiogenesis to occur are obtainable with the intravenous infusion of vitamin C (ascorbate).

In the study published in the February 2010 issue of Journal of Angiogenesis Research, two assays were used to evaluate the effect of high-doses of vitamin C on the inhibition of new blood vessel growth. One was ex vivo and one in vivo and both illustrated the inhibition characteristics vitamin C has on new tumor blood vessel growth. The in vivo assay treated with vitamin C indicated 30% less blood vessel growth than untreated tissue. Read more

New Testing Method Hints At Garlic’s Cancer-Fighting Potential

Researchers have designed a urine test that can simultaneously measure the extent of a potential carcinogenic process and a marker of garlic consumption in humans.

In a small pilot study, the test suggested that the more garlic people consumed, the lower the levels of the potential carcinogenic process were.

The research is all about body processes associated with nitrogen-containing compounds, scientists say. These processes include nitrosation, or the conversion of some substances found in foods or contaminated water into carcinogens.

“What we were after was developing a method where we could measure in urine two different compounds, one related to the risk for cancer, and the other, which indicates the extent of consumption of garlic,” said Earl Harrison, Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Human Nutrition at Ohio State, an investigator in Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, and senior author of the study.

“Our results showed that those were inversely related to one another meaning that the more we had the marker for garlic consumption, the less there was of the marker for the risk of cancer.”

Ultimately, the scientists hope to find that a nutritional intervention could be a way to stop the process that develops these carcinogens. This process is most commonly initiated by exposure to substances called nitrates from certain processed meats or high-heat food preparation practices, or to water contaminated by industry or agricultural runoff.

About 20 percent of nitrates that are consumed convert to nitrites. A cascade of events can convert these compounds into what are called nitrosamines, and many, but not all, nitrosamines are linked to cancer.

Vegetables also contain nitrates, but previous research has suggested that the vitamin C in vegetables lowers the risk that those nitrates will convert to something toxic. Researchers suspected that nutrients in garlic could have similar antioxidant effects as vitamin C.

The study is published in a recent issue of the journal Analytical Biochemistry.

The research began with the small human study based at Penn State University. Researchers there fed participants a weeklong diet lacking any nitrates or garlic. They then gave the participants a dose of sodium nitrate in a formulation that would not become toxic, but which would show a marker in the urine of the potentially toxic process. Read more

Reliable Biomarkers Needed For Early Detection Of Liver Cancer

While biomarkers are needed to complement ultrasound in the early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; liver cancer), neither des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) nor the most widely used biomarker, alpha fetoprotein (AFP), is optimal, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

“Most surprising was the finding that patient demographics influenced both des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin and alpha fetoprotein values, but in opposite directions,” said Anna S. Lok, MD, AGAF, of the University of Michigan Medical Center and lead author of the study. “This observation merits further investigation, as it might impact the accuracy of these biomarkers in the detection of liver cancer.”

The study was conducted in 10 centers in the U.S. and funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

Among 1,031 patients randomized in the Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-Term Treatment Against Cirrhosis Trial, a nested case-control study of 39 HCC cases (24 early stage) and 77 matched controls was conducted to compare the performance of AFP and DCP. Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »