Vitamin C 'gives chemotherapy a boost'

High-dose vitamin C can boost the cancer-killing effect of chemotherapy in the lab and mice, research suggests.

Given by injection, it could potentially be a safe, effective and low-cost treatment for ovarian and other cancers, say US scientists.

Reporting in Science Translational Medicine, they call for large-scale government clinical trials.

Pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to run trials, as vitamins cannot be patented.

Vitamin C has long been used as an alternative therapy for cancer.

In the 1970s, chemist Linus Pauling reported that vitamin C given intravenously was effective in treating cancer.