Multiple Myeloma Tumor Cells Are Selectively Killed By Pharmacologically-Dosed Ascorbic Acid

Background: High-dose chemotherapy to treat multiple myeloma (MM) can be life-threatening due to toxicities to normal cells and there is a need to target tumor cells more selectively and/or lower standard drug dosage without losing efficacy. We show that pharmacologically-dosed ascorbic acid (PAA) only in the presence of high intracellular iron leads to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulting in cell death.