Cited by 177Vitamin C and Antioxidants ResearchSepsis Diagnosis and TreatmentClinical Nutrition and Gastroenterology

The Emerging Role of Vitamin C as a Treatment for Sepsis

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Kashiouris, Markos G., L’Heureux, Michael, Cable, Casey A., Fisher, Bernard J., Leichtle, Stefan W., Fowler, Alpha A.·2020·Nutrients

Abstract

Sepsis, a life-threatening organ dysfunction due to a dysregulated host response to infection, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Decades of research have failed to identify any specific therapeutic targets outside of antibiotics, infectious source elimination, and supportive care. More recently, vitamin C has emerged as a potential therapeutic agent to treat sepsis. Vitamin C has been shown to be deficient in septic patients and the administration of high dose intravenous as opposed to oral vitamin C leads to markedly improved and elevated serum levels. Its physiologic role in sepsis includes attenuating oxidative stress and inflammation, improving vasopressor synthesis, enhancing immune cell function, improving endovascular function, and epigenetic immunologic modifications. Multiple clinical trials have demonstrated the safety of vitamin C and two recent studies have shown promising data on mortality improvement. Currently, larger randomized controlled studies are underway to validate these findings. With further study, vitamin C may become standard of care for the treatment of sepsis, but given its safety profile, current treatment can be justified with compassionate use.

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  • Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a powerful antioxidant that can have beneficial effects on delaying the aging process and age-related diseases through its action on redox oxidative and mitochondrial pathways, immune system, inflamm-aging, endothelial integrity, and lipoprotein metabolism.

    “Vitamin C or ascorbic acid (AA) is a powerful antioxidant that can have beneficial effects on delaying the aging process and age-related diseases thorough its action on redox oxidative and mitochondrial pathways, on the immune system, on inflamm-aging, on endothelial integrity, and on lipoprotein metabolism [114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121].”

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [128]Intravenous Vitamin C Employed as Adjunctive Therapy in Recurrent Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS): A Case Report A54. Critical Care Case Reports: Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure/Ards Available online: https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2016.193.1_MeetingAbstracts.A1892 (accessed on 24 September 2019) · DOI

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Authors
Kashiouris, M. G., L’Heureux, M., Cable, C. A., Fisher, B. J., Leichtle, S. W., & Fowler, A. A.
Affiliations
  • Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
  • Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, 1200 E Broad St., P.O. Box 980050, Richmond, VA 23298, USA
Corresponding author
Kashiouris, Markos G.
Venue
Nutrients
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-01-22
Volume
12
Issue
2
Pages
292
ISSN
2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3002266689
Cited by
177
References
137
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 35
FWCI
4.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR002649)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Vitamin C and Antioxidants Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Clinical Nutrition and Gastroenterology
Keywords
vitamin C, sepsis, oxidative stress, inflammation, immune cell function, endothelial function, scurvy, sepsis mortality, sepsis treatment
MeSH terms
Ascorbic Acid, Humans, Vitamins, Sepsis, Administration, Intravenous

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