Vitamin C and Follicular Lymphoma

So while we're on the subject of Vitamins and Lymphoma, let's talk about Vitamin C.

In my last post, I wrote about a recent study involving Vitamin D -- it showed that low Vitamin D levels might result in lower survival rates for Follicular Lymphoma. The researchers admit that more study is needed on this, so don't go swallowing bottles of Vitamin D pills just yet. Talk to your doctor about checking your levels and why it's important.

The journal Cell recently published a heavy research article on Vitamin C called "Restoration of TET2 Function Blocks Aberrant Self-Renewal and Leukemia Progression." When I say "heavy," I mean it has some serious discussion of cell-level processes and genetics. Cell is not a journal about clinical oncology and how doctors treat patients. It's about what goes on in our cells, on the smallest level -- the normal and the abnormal.

So I was happy to get some help with this heavy stuff from an article on Lymphoma News Today, which included some explanation from the researchers in the study.

Apparently, Vitamin C has been an alternative treatment for cancer for a long time -- people think that taking lots of it will stop their cancer. While there is some truth to that (Vitamin C was shown to kill cancer cells in a test tube), research in 2008 on real people showed that giving a large dose of Vitamin C by infusion had few side effects, but also had no effect on cancer. But there was some suggestion that maybe Vitamin C needed some help if it was going to work.

The recent article in Cell helps explain why. Basically, one of the ways that blood cancers form is because of a problem with an enzyme called TET2. When TET2 isn't doing its job, stem cells can't turn into white blood cells. Think of stem cells as baby cells that are supposed to grow up in to different kinds of adult cells. TET2 helps that happen. When TET2 doesn't work, the stem cells don't grow up, but they don't die, either. They go into the blood stream and take up room and cause problems.

So when TET2 isn't working, your body is basically overrun by mutant zombie babies. Let that image sink in for a minute.

Vitamin C seems to help TET2 work again the way it is supposed to by blocking the thing that makes TET2 stop working. No more zombie babies.

But the Vitamin C needs help, too. The researchers found that something called a PARP inhibitor helps the Vitamin C do its job. Inhibitors of different types are becoming more common in all kinds of cancers, including Follicular Lymphoma. The PARP inhibitor stops a protein from fixing DNA in cancer cells, causing them to die. A PARP inhibitor is used now on some kinds of ovarian cancer.

The lymphoma connection here is that there is at least one PARP inhibitor being tested on Follicular Lymphoma.

All of this sounds great. But like the Vitamin D study, there needs to be a lot more research. All of the work done for this article was done on mouse models. there are a lot of steps that need to be completed before this is ever shown to be safe and effective on real FL patients.

So that's the good thing about this study -- we might have an actual treatment strategy come out of it someday (years from now).

In the meantime, while you are avoiding the Vitamin D section at the pharmacy, go ahead and avoid the Vitamin C section, too. At least until you talk to your doctor about whether or not you need Vitamin C for something other than cancer.

Bottom line, as always -- stay informed, talk to your doctor, and if a cancer "cure" sounds too good to be true, it probably is.