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

Abstract

Objective: Intravenous high-dose vitamin C (IVC) therapy is used in naturopathic and integrative oncology. Abnormal blood counts and, in particular, lymphopenia commonly occurs in cancer patients and predicts poor prognosis. In this study data from a previous Phase 1 clinical trial using 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.Method: Twenty-four subjects were given continuous IVC. Most of the patients had colon cancer with liver and lung metastasis. All patients had several chemotherapy/ radiation treatments before entering the study.Results: During continuous infusion treatment, data for all patients, who completed 6-8 weeks of the treatment, demonstrated a positive effect on the improvement on lymphocyte counts in patients with lymphopenia. On average the percentage of improvement in ALC was 22% for ALC<1300 /ul and 69% for ALC<1000 cells/ µl. Our data also indicate that lower doses were more favorable for the improvement of ALC. In addition, the data suggest a regulatory effect of continuous injections of ANC levels and NLR rate of growth. Continuous IVC treatments were also associated with decreases in glucose concentrations, restoration of vitamin C levels, and, in about 40% of cases, reductions in lactate dehydrogenase levels. Conclusions:In summary, the present analysis demonstrated the regulatory effect of continuous IVC on lymphopenia, ANC and NLR. In addition, we found that continuous IVC infusions improved several parameters associated with poor cancer prognosis. The data suggests a strategic benefit to using lower IVC doses in continuous infusions. In conclusion, continuous infusions had benefits to cancer patients and further research in this area is warranted.