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Pharmacological ascorbate improves the response to platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Pharmacological ascorbate improves the response to platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer

Muhammad Furqan, Taher Abu-Hejleh, Laura M Stephens, Stacey M Hartwig, Sarah L Mott, Casey F Pulliam, Michael Petronek, John B Henrich, Melissa A Fath, Jon C Houtman, …
Redox biology, Vol.53, pp.102318-102318
04/20/2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2022.102318
PMCID: PMC9079696
PMID: 35525024
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2022.102318View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Platinum-based chemotherapy with or without immunotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) lacking a molecular driver alteration. Pre-clinical studies have reported that pharmacological ascorbate (P-AscH-) enhances NSCLC response to platinum-based therapy. We conducted a phase II clinical trial combining P-AscH- with carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy. Chemotherapy naïve advanced stage NSCLC patients received 75 g ascorbate twice per week intravenously with carboplatin and paclitaxel every three weeks for four cycles. The primary endpoint was to improve tumor response per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) v1.1 compared to the historical control of 20%. The trial was conducted as an optimal Simon's two-stage design. Blood samples were collected for exploratory analyses. The study enrolled 38 patients and met its primary endpoint with an objective response rate of 34.2% (p = 0.03). All were confirmed partial responses (cPR). The disease control rate was 84.2% (stable disease + cPR). Median progression-free and overall survival were 5.7 months and 12.8 months, respectively. Treatment-related adverse events (TRAE) included one grade 5 (neutropenic fever) and five grade 4 events (cytopenias). Cytokine and chemokine data suggest that the combination elicits an immune response. Immunophenotyping of peripheral blood mononuclear cells demonstrated an increase in effector CD8 T-cells in patients with a progression-free survival (PFS) ≥ 6 months. The addition of P-AscH- to platinum-based chemotherapy improved tumor response in advanced stage NSCLC. P-AscH- appears to alter the host immune response and needs further investigation as a potential adjuvant to immunotherapy. •The phase II study evaluated the efficacy and safety of Pharmacological Ascorbate with platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced-stage NSCLC.•Pharmacological Ascorbate improved the response of NSCLC to platinum-doublet chemotherapy.•Cytokine and chemokines data suggest that protocol regimen elicited an immune response with multiple distinct cytokine signatures.•Patients with longer PFS had a greater fold increase in circulating activated effector CD8 T cells.•The combination of ascorbate and chemotherapy was safe and tolerable.
Ascorbate Non-small cell Platinum Vitamin C

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