Plate Nº 79 · recorded October 10, 2026
Health & Medicine ResearchReported finding
Vitamin C Shows Survival Signal in Blood Disorder Trial
In a phase 2 trial of 109 people at risk of blood cancer, 11 of 55 on daily vitamin C had died by 33.6 months versus 24 of 54 on placebo. Researchers call for a phase 3 study.
By Priya Raman3 min read609 words
In brief
- 35 total deaths at 33.6-month median follow-up: 24 in placebo group, 11 in vitamin C group
- Trial enrolled 109 participants in Denmark and the US; 55 took 1,000 mg/day vitamin C, 54 took placebo for 12 months
- Published October 3, 2026 in CANCER journal (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.70549)
- Primary endpoint — abnormal cell growth rate — showed no significant difference between groups
- Vitamin C group had fewer cases of anemia, pneumonia, acute aseptic arthritis, and internal bleeding, but more gastrointestinal complaints
In a randomized phase 2 trial of 109 people at risk of blood cancer, 11 of 55 participants taking high-dose vitamin C had died by a median follow-up of 33.6 months.
By comparison, 24 of 54 participants who received placebo had died in the same window. The gap drew an exploratory survival signal from a study that originally set out to test something else.
The EVITA trial was published online October 3, 2026 in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Researchers enrolled 109 adults across Denmark and the United States in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design.
Every participant carried either clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance (CCUS) — a blood disorder in which some cells carry cancer-linked mutations but the disease has not developed — or a low-risk myeloid malignancy.
Researchers randomly assigned 55 participants to take 1,000 milligrams of oral vitamin C each day. The other 54 took an identical-looking placebo. Neither participants nor clinicians knew who received which. Treatment continued for 12 months.
What was the trial designed to measure?
The primary endpoint was straightforward: would vitamin C slow the growth rate of abnormal blood cells? On that measure, vitamin C performed no differently than placebo. Both groups showed similar trajectories of clonal expansion.
Why vitamin C in the first place?
The rationale came from epigenetics, the study of chemical switches that turn genes on or off without changing the underlying DNA sequence. Vitamin C boosts the activity of TET enzymes, proteins that help install those switches.
Reduced TET activity shows up often in blood cancers. Investigators wanted to know whether raising vitamin C levels in at-risk patients might restore healthier gene regulation — and, in turn, slow disease progression.
What else did the trial capture?
Although the primary endpoint fell flat, researchers tracked several secondary signals in the vitamin C group that pointed in the same direction:
- Favorable shifts in inflammatory markers tied to better outcomes
- Fewer cases of anemia
- Fewer cases of pneumonia
- Fewer cases of acute aseptic arthritis
- Fewer cases of internal bleeding
Gastrointestinal problems, however, appeared more often in the vitamin C group than in the placebo group.
How strong is the survival finding?
The death count — 35 across both groups — emerged from an exploratory, not preplanned, analysis. Phase 2 trials rarely run long enough or enroll enough patients to settle survival questions, and EVITA was no exception.
Co-senior author Peter A. Jones, PhD, DSc, of the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, framed the result as a reason to keep going, not to change clinical practice today.
"The EVITA trial gives us a strong rationale to continue exploring if and how vitamin C might benefit people with certain pre-cancer or early-stage blood cancers," Jones said. "More work is needed but we are cautiously optimistic that these findings could inform future strategies to intercept leukemia development."
Jones co-leads the Van Andel Institute–Stand Up To Cancer (VAI-SU2C) Epigenetics Dream Team, the consortium that designed and ran EVITA.
What's next?
A larger phase 3 trial would be needed before any treatment recommendation. Co-senior author Kirsten Grønbæk, MD, PhD, of Rigshospitalet at Copenhagen University Hospital, said the team intends to push toward that next step.
"We are encouraged by our findings and what they ultimately could mean for people with these early-stage blood disorders," Grønbæk said. "Although it is too soon to make recommendations based on our results, we are hopeful that a larger study will give us more definitive answers."
The full paper appears in CANCER, volume 132, issue 19 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.70549).
via dx.doi.org (Original)
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Senior reporter covering industry trends and analytics at SciBeat.
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