Abstract
Cancer, a fatal disease, is also one of the main causes of death worldwide. Despite various developments to prevent and treat cancer, the side effects of anticancer drugs remain a major concern. Ascorbic acid is an essential vitamin required by our bodies for normal physiological function and also has antioxidant and anticancer activity. Although the body cannot synthesize ascorbic acid, it is abundant in nature through foods and other natural sources and also exists as a nutritional food supplement. In anticancer drug development, ascorbic acid has played an important role by inhibiting the development of cancer through various mechanisms, including scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), selectively producing ROS and encouraging their cytotoxicity against tumour cells, preventing glucose metabolism, serving as an epigenetic regulator, and regulating the expression of HIF in tumour cells. Several ascorbic acid analogues have been produced to date for their anticancer and antioxidant activity. The current review summarizes the mechanisms behind ascorbic acid’s antitumor activity, presents a compilation of its derivatives and their biological activity as anticancer agents, and discusses delivery systems such as liposomes, nanoparticles against cancer, and patents on ascorbic acid as anticancer agents.
Highlights
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 9.6 million people died from cancer, which is expected to cause 16.4 million deaths by 2040 [1,2]
The potential functions of ascorbic acid covered above are associated with sufficient contact of ascorbate with tumour cells in the tumour environment through effective distribution [59]
A high dose of ascorbic acid is important for exerting the anticancer effect
Summary
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 9.6 million people died from cancer, which is expected to cause 16.4 million deaths by 2040 [1,2]. There have been numerous approaches such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery to prevent and treat cancer, and some signs of progress have been made, but the need to develop pioneering, effective treatments for cancer still exists [3,4]. The prevalence of side effects and adverse drug reactions is the problem associated with existing cancer treatments [5]. The most common side effects are nausea, vomiting, hair loss, diarrhoea, anaemia, fatigue, and appetite and weight changes, and in long-term use, the treatments can cause permanent gastrointestinal dysfunction and damage to the reproductive system [6,7]. Humans of ofthe theenzyme enzymegluconolactone gluconolactoneoxidase, oxidase, which whichisisrequired requiredfor forthe thegeneration generationofofascorbic ascorbic acid galactose[11].
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