Efficacy of continuous ascorbate infusion on lymphopenia and neutrophil counts in the supportive care of cancer patients

Abstract

Abnormal blood counts and, in particular, lymphopenia commonly occur in cancer patients and predict poor prognosis. In this study data from a previous Phase 1 clinical trial of continuous vitamin C infusions were analyzed. The trends in the absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC), absolute neutrophil counts (ANC) and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were evaluated. In addition, pharmacokinetic data on IVC in patients who were treated by continuous infusion were determined for different dosages.During continuous infusion treatment, data for all patients, who completed 6-8 weeks of the treatment, demonstrated improvement of lymphocyte counts in patients with lymphopenia. On average the percentage of improvement in ALC was 22% for ALC <1300 /µl and 69% for ALC <1000 cells/µl. Our data also indicate that lower doses (less than 20 g/70 kg) were more favorable for the improvement of ALC. In addition, the data suggest a normalizing effect of continuous infusions of ANC levels and changes in NLR. In summary, the present analysis demonstrated the normalizing effect of continuous IVC on lymphopenia, ANC and NLR.