A study in rats suggests that taking vitamin C may help counteract muscle wasting, a common side effect of the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin. Although clinical studies are needed to determine the safety and efficacy of taking vitamin C during doxorubicin treatment, the findings suggest that vitamin C may represent a promising opportunity to reduce some of the drug’s most debilitating side effects.
Our findings suggest vitamin C as a potential adjunctive therapy to help treat peripheral muscle disease following doxorubicin treatment, thereby improving functional capacity and quality of life and reducing mortality.”
Antonio Viana do Nascimento Filho, M.Sc., Universidad Nova de Julio (UNINOVE), Brazil, the first author of the study, will present the findings at the annual meeting of the American Physiological Society during the 2022 Experimental Biology (EB) meeting in Philadelphia, April 2-5.
Doxorubicin is an anthracycline chemotherapy drug that is often used with other chemotherapy drugs to treat breast cancer, bladder cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, and several other cancer types. Although it is an effective anticancer drug, doxorubicin can cause serious heart problems and muscle wasting, with lasting effects on survivors’ physical strength and quality of life.
These side effects are thought to be caused by the excessive production of oxygen-reactive substances or “free radicals” in the body. Vitamin C is a natural antioxidant that can help reduce oxidative stress, the type of damage caused by free radicals.
In a previous study with the University of Manitoba in Canada, the team found that vitamin C improved markers of heart health and survival in rats given doxorubicin, primarily by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. In the new study, they assessed whether vitamin C could also help prevent the adverse effects of doxorubicin on skeletal muscle.
The researchers compared skeletal muscle mass and markers of oxidative stress in four groups of rats, each of 8 to 10 animals. One group took both vitamin C and doxorubicin, the second group only took vitamin C, the third group only took doxorubicin, and the fourth group did not take either. Mice given vitamin C and doxorubicin showed evidence of reduced oxidative stress and better muscle mass compared to mice given doxorubicin but not vitamin C.
“It is exciting that prophylactic and concomitant treatment with vitamin C given just one week before doxorubicin and two weeks after doxorubicin is sufficient to reduce the side effects of this drug on skeletal muscle, thereby reducing Huge positive effect on skeletal muscle. Studying the health of animals,” says Nascimento Filho.”Our work shows that vitamin C treatment attenuates the loss of muscle mass and improves many markers of free radical imbalance in rats that received doxorubicin.”
The scientists noted that further research, including randomized clinical trials, is needed to confirm whether taking vitamin C during doxorubicin treatment is helpful in human patients and to determine the appropriate dose and timing. Previous research suggests that vitamin C may interfere with the effects of chemotherapy drugs, so patients are not advised to take vitamin C supplements during cancer treatment unless directed by their doctor.
Post time: Apr-26-2022