Abstract
Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. This disease is described as accelerated and uncontrolled cell multiplication. In recent decades, chemoprevention has been advocated to reduce the risk of cancer or prevent its recurrence. An example of chemopreventives is antioxidant vitamins, which inhibit angiogenesis and cancer cell metastasis. In addition, vitamin C, vitamin D and vitamin E decrease the side effects caused by chemotherapy during cancer treatment. This review provides a complete update on the therapeutic potential of vitamins C, D and E against cancer. Unfortunately, most studies suggest the need to conducting rigorous clinical trials to confirm the benefits of these vitamins. In addition, chemopreventive regimens should be adjusted for a greater range of cancer types.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adaniel C, Itriago L, Álvarez M (2017) Chemoprevention for patients with hereditary cancer predisposition mutations. Rev Méd Clín Las Condes 28(4):627–631
Albahrani AA, Greaves RF (2016) Fat-soluble vitamins: clinical indications and current challenges for chromatographic measurement. Clin Biochem Rev 37(1):27
Alonso Castellanos S, Soto Célix M, Alonso Galarreta J, Riego Valledor AD, Miján de la Torre A (2014) Efectos adversos metabólicos y nutricionales asociados a la terapia biológica del cáncer. Nutr Hosp 29(2):259–268
Baillie N, Carr AC, Peng S (2018) The use of intravenous vitamin C as a supportive therapy for a patient with glioblastoma multiforme. Antioxidants 7(9):115
de Baptista GA, Melo CM (2014) Cáncer-vitaminas-minerales: Relación compleja. Arch Latinoam Nutr 64(4):220
Calmarza P, Sanz AP, Prieto CL, Llorente MB, Boj DC (2018) Vitamin D levels in patients with recent cancer diagnosis. Nutr Hosp 35(4):903–908
Debier C, Larondelle Y (2005) Vitamins a and E: metabolism, roles and transfer to offspring. Br J Nutr 93(2):153–174
Dou R, Ng K, Giovannucci EL, Manson JE, Qian ZR, Ogino S (2016) Vitamin D and colorectal cancer: molecular, epidemiological and clinical evidence. Br J Nutr 115(9):1643–1660
Drisko JA, Serrano OK, Spruce LR, Chen Q, Levine M (2018) Treatment of pancreatic cancer with intravenous vitamin C: a case report. Anti-Cancer Drugs 29(4):373
Gonzalez-Fisher RF, Perez-Jaime S, Buz K, Sotelo-Felix E, Ordorica AO, Riestra GH, Padilla RA (2016) Prevalence of low levels of vitamin D in patients with breast cancer who live in northern latitudes 21-22 degrees. Rev De Osteoporosis Y Metabolismo Mineral 8(4):127–133
Guo L, Zhu H, Lin C, Che J, Tian X, Han S et al (2015) Associations between antioxidant vitamins and the risk of invasive cervical cancer in Chinese women: a case-control study. Sci Rep 5(1):1–10
Hamishehkar H, Ranjdoost F, Asgharian P, Mahmoodpoor A, Sanaie S (2016) Vitamins, are they safe? Adv Pharm Bull 6(4):467
Hoffer LJ, Robitaille L, Zakarian R, Melnychuk D, Kavan P, Agulnik J et al (2015) High-dose intravenous vitamin C combined with cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with advanced cancer: a phase I-II clinical trial. PLoS One 10(4):e0120228
Institute of Medicine [IOM] (2006) Dietary reference intakes: the essential guide to nutrient requirements. National Academies Press, New York
Ismail A, El-Awady R, Mohamed G, Hussein M, Ramadan SS (2018) Prognostic significance of serum vitamin D levels in Egyptian females with breast cancer. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 19(2):571
Jacobs C, Hutton B, Ng T, Shorr R, Clemons M (2015) Is there a role for oral or intravenous ascorbate (vitamin C) in treating patients with cancer? A systematic review. Oncologist 20(2):210
Jain A, Tiwari A, Verma A, Jain SK (2017) Vitamins for cancer prevention and treatment: an insight. Curr Mol Med 17(5):321–340
Jiang Q (2019) Natural forms of vitamin E and metabolites—regulation of cancer cell death and underlying mechanisms. IUBMB Life 71(4):495–506
Kanchi MM, Shanmugam MK, Rane G, Sethi G, Kumar AP (2017) Tocotrienols: the unsaturated sidekick shifting new paradigms in vitamin E therapeutics. Drug Discov Today 22(12):1765–1781
Klimant E, Wright H, Rubin D, Seely D, Markman M (2018) Intravenous vitamin C in the supportive care of cancer patients: a review and rational approach. Curr Oncol 25(2):139
Koudelka S, Knotigova PT, Masek J, Prochazka L, Lukac R, Miller AD et al (2015) Liposomal delivery systems for anti-cancer analogues of vitamin E. J Control Release 207:59–69
Lee SJ, Jeong JH, Lee IH, Lee J, Jung JH, Park HY et al (2019) Effect of high-dose vitamin C combined with anti-cancer treatment on breast cancer cells. Anticancer Res 39(2):751–758
Mamede AC, Tavares SD, Abrantes AM, Trindade J, Maia JM, Botelho MF (2011) The role of vitamins in cancer: a review. Nutr Cancer 63(4):479–494
Mokbel K, Mokbel K (2019) Chemoprevention of breast cancer with vitamins and micronutrients: A concise review. In vivo 33(4):983–997
Mondul AM, Weinstein SJ, Albanes D (2017) Vitamins, metabolomics, and prostate cancer. World J Urol 35(6):883–893
Ngo B, Van Riper JM, Cantley LC, Yun J (2019) Targeting cancer vulnerabilities with high-dose vitamin C. Nat Rev Cancer 19(5):271–282
Raymond YCF, Glenda CSL, Meng LK (2016) Effects of high doses of vitamin c on cancer patients in Singapore: nine cases. Integr Cancer Ther 15(2):197–204
Rodríguez MC, Alvarez LF, Sanz MG, Minguillón GDGF, Cortecero MDS (1998) Tecnología de los alimentos. In Pereda, JAO (ed). Síntesis
Schubert M, Kluge S, Schmölz L, Wallert M, Galli F, Birringer M, Lorkowski S (2018) Long-chain metabolites of vitamin E: metabolic activation as a general concept for lipid-soluble vitamins? Antioxidants 7(1):10
Scragg R, Khaw KT, Toop L, Sluyter J, Lawes CM, Waayer D et al (2018) Monthly high-dose vitamin D supplementation and cancer risk: a post hoc analysis of the vitamin D assessment randomized clinical trial. JAMA Oncol 4(11):e182178–e182178
The World Health Organization [WHO]. 2003. “Fruit and Vegetable Promotion Initiative/A Meeting Report/25–27/08/03.” https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/f&v_promotion_initiative_report.pdf. Accessed 25 Nov 2020
Unlu A, Kirca O, Ozdogan M, Nayır E (2016) High-dose vitamin C and cancer. J Oncol Sci 1:10–12
Acknowledgment(S)
D. Servín de la Mora-López gratefully acknowledges the CONACYT by scholarship: 847709. A. A. Quintero-Guerrero gratefully acknowledges the CONACYT by scholarship: 937447. This research was funded by the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora with the project PROFAPI (2021–0010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sánchez-Machado, D.I., López-Cervantes, J., Servín de la Mora-López, D., Quintero-Guerrero, A.A. (2021). Vitamins (C, D and E) Against Cancer. In: Jafari, S.M., Nabavi, S.M., Silva, A.S. (eds) Nutraceuticals and Cancer Signaling. Food Bioactive Ingredients. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74035-1_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74035-1_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-74034-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-74035-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)