HIGH doses of vitamin C found in fruit and green leafy veg could be a key weapon in fighting cancer, according to research.
The study suggests it may encourage blood cancer stem cells to die.
Researchers say Vitamin C may “tell” faulty stem cells in the bone marrow to mature and die normally, instead of multiplying to cause blood cancers.
They explained certain genetic changes are known to reduce the ability of an enzyme called TET2 to encourage stem cells to become mature blood cells, which eventually die, in many patients with certain kinds of leukaemia.
The study, published online by the journal Cell.
having that massive outpouring of emotion around me.
“I am a very private person, and it was not easy. There was a lot of noise, a lot of crying, a lot of wailing, people were throwing stuff, people were fainting.’’ Prince Harry has also voiced his disapproval at having to walk in Diana’s funeral cortege.
deliver a nicotine “hit”
without the dangerous chemicals contained in tobacco, are widely accepted as a safer option for people who already smoke.
Social psychologist Professor Mark Conner, from Leeds University, who led the research, said: “The findings suggest that among the teenagers who had never smoked, the use of e-cigarettes was a strong predicator that within 12 months they would have tried a conventional cigarette.
“It is impossible to say if these young people were just experimenting with cigarettes or were becoming more regular smokers.”
A total of 2,836 adolescents aged 14 and 15 were surveyed for the research, published in the journal Tobacco Control.
found vitamin C activated TET2 function in mice engineered to be deficient in the enzyme.
Professor Benjamin Neel, of the Perlmutter Cancer Centre in the US, said: “We’re excited by the pr o s p e c t h i g h - d o s e vitamin C might become a safe treatment for blood diseases caused by TET2-deficient leukaemia stem cells, most likely in combination with other targeted therapies.”
He said changes in the genetic code that reduce TET2 function are found in 10 per cent of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), 30 per cent of those with a form of pre-leukaemia called myelodysplastic syndrome, and in nearly 50 per cent of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia.
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