Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Advanced Pharmaceutical Bulletin 2228-5881 13 4 2023 11 01 Modulatory Effect of Vitamin C on Hypoxia Induced Breast Cancer Stem Cells 792 798 10.34172/apb.2023.073 EN Masoumeh Kazemi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8843-138X Soheila Montazersaheb https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5010-7293 Mina Noroozpour https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1096-2372 Safar Farajnia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6087-9147 Hojjatollah Nozad Charoudeh https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4883-9924 Journal Article 10.34172/apb.2023.073 2022 03 05 2023 02 19 Purpose: Eliminating cancer stem cells (CSCs) is a challenge because of their enhanced resistance to anti-cancer drugs. Vitamin C, which is insufficient in patients with higher stages of cancer, has been gaining attention as a potential treatment for human malignancies. Hence this study aimed to analyze the effect of high-dose vitamin C treatment on the gene expression level of HIF-1α, NF-κB1, BAX, and DNMT1 in the MCF7 cells undergoing hypoxia, as an inducer of CSCs characteristics. As a result, vitamin C could be possibly used as a promising therapeutic adjuvant. Methods: Here we first analyzed the breast CSC population alteration in MCF7 cells following hypoxia induction. Then, we evaluated the impact of vitamin C treatment on the gene expression level of four stemness-related genes in hypoxic MCF7 cells. Results: Our results indicate that vitamin C could reduce proliferation and stemness states in CSCs possibly by induction of apoptotic markers such as BAX, along with attenuating stemness markers, including NF-κB1, and DNMT1 gene expressions. Conclusion: According to our findings, vitamin C administration would become a new approach to avoiding the stimulation of CSCs during cancer therapies.