Study: Vitamin C May Kill Drug-Resistant TB

BRONX, N.Y. New research from Yeshiva University showed vitamin C kills drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in laboratory culture. The unexpected finding may highlight a new possibility for TB drug design, as scientists believe adding vitamin C to current therapies may shorten intervention time. The results are published in May's Nature Communications.

Researchers from Yeshiva's Albert Einstein College of Medicine originally were investigating how TB bacteria became resistant to the top-tier drug, isoniazid. However, during the experiments, William Jacobs, Jr., Ph.D., professor of microbiology and  immunology, said the team found vitamin C sterilized three different strains of TB. Researchers discovered vitamin C causes a reaction that creates free radicals lethal to TB.

We dont know whether vitamin C will work in humans, but we now have a rational basis for doing a clinical trial," Dr. Jacobs said in an Einstein statement. It also helps that we know vitamin C is inexpensive, widely available and very safe to use. At the very least, this work shows us a new mechanism that we can exploit to attack TB."