A combination of vitamin C and antibiotics could be key to killing cancer stem cells, a new study finds, paving the way for a strategy that could combat cancer recurrence and treatment resistance.

Share on Pinterest Researchers say that a combination of antibiotics and vitamin C could kill cancer stem cells.

Researchers found that a therapy involving the antibiotic Doxycycline and ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, was up to 100 times more effective for killing cancer stem cells (CSCs) than 2-DG, a molecule currently being tested as an anti-cancer agent in clinical trials.

Study co-author Prof. Michael Lisanti, of the Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Salford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues recently reported their findings in the journal Oncotarget.

Stem cells are cells that have the ability to reproduce and transform into other cell types. Studies have suggested that some cancer cells act in a similar way to stem cells, reproducing in order to form and sustain tumors.

These CSCs are believed to be a main driver behind the growth, spread, and recurrence of tumors among patients with advanced cancer, and they also play a role in resistance to cancer therapy.

“Therefore, new therapeutic strategies are necessary to identify and eradicate CSCs,” say Prof. Lisanti and colleagues.

With their new study, the researchers may have found a way to do just that.