Vitamin C Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Vitamin C, including details on benefits, dosage, supplements, information.

Vitamin C supplementation does not protect L-gulono-gamma-lactone oxidase-deficient mice from Helicobacter pylori-induced gastritis and gastric premalignancy.

Lee CW, Wang XD, Chien KL, Ge Z, Rickman BH, Rogers AB, Varro A, Whary MT, Wang TC, Fox JG

Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

In human studies, low vitamin C intake has been associated with more severe Helicobacter pylori gastritis and a higher incidence of gastric cancer. However, vitamin C supplementation has not been definitively shown to protect against gastric cancer. Using vitamin C-deficient B6.129P2-Gulo(tm1Umc/mmcd) (gulo(-/-)) mice lacking L-gulono-gamma-lactone oxidase, we compared gastric lesions and Th1 immune responses in H. pylori-infected gulo(-/-) mice supplemented with low (33 mg/L) or high (3,300 mg/L) vitamin C in drinking water for 16 or 32 weeks. Vitamin C levels in plasma and gastric tissue correlated with the vitamin C supplementation levels in gulo(-/-) mice. H. pylori infection resulted in comparable gastritis and premalignant lesions in wildtype C57BL/6 and gulo(-/-) mice supplemented with high vitamin C, but lesions were less severe in gulo(-/-) mice supplemented with low vitamin C at 32 weeks post infection. The reduced gastric lesions in infected gulo(-/-) mice supplemented with low vitamin C correlated with reduced Th1-associated IgG2c, gastric IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha mRNA and higher H. pylori colonization levels. These results in the H. pylori-infected gulo(-/-) mouse model suggest that although supplementation with a high level of vitamin C achieved physiologically normal vitamin C levels in plasma and gastric tissue, this dose of vitamin C did not protect gulo(-/-) mice from H. pylori-induced premalignant gastric lesions. In addition, less severe gastric lesions in H.pylori infected gulo(-/-) mice supplemented with low vitamin C correlated with an attenuated Th1 inflammatory response.

Published 1 January 2008 in Int J Cancer, 122(5): 1068-76.
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