title: Ascorbic acid serum levels are reduced in patients with hematological malignancies.
abstract: In this paper we demonstrate that patients treated with chemotherapy and/or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) have highly significant reduced serum ascorbic acid (AA) levels compared to healthy controls. We recently observed in in vitro experiments that growth of both T and NK cells from hematopoietic stem cells is positively influenced by AA. It might be of clinical relevance to study the function and recovery of immune cells after intensive treatment, its correlation to AA serum levels and the possible effect of AA supplementation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mirelle J A J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Huijskens
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Will K W H
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Wodzig
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mateusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walczak
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wilfred T V
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Germeraad
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gerard M J
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Bos
keywords: Ascorbic acid; Chemotherapy; Hematological malignancy; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; Vitamin C