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The epigenetic role of vitamin C in health and disease

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Abstract

Recent advances have uncovered a previously unknown function of vitamin C in epigenetic regulation. Vitamin C exists predominantly as an ascorbate anion under physiological pH conditions. Ascorbate was discovered as a cofactor for methylcytosine dioxygenases that are responsible for DNA demethylation, and also as a likely cofactor for some JmjC domain-containing histone demethylases that catalyze histone demethylation. Variation in ascorbate bioavailability thus can influence the demethylation of both DNA and histone, further leading to different phenotypic presentations. Ascorbate deficiency can be presented systematically, spatially and temporally in different tissues at the different stages of development and aging. Here, we review how ascorbate deficiency could potentially be involved in embryonic and postnatal development, and plays a role in various diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer through epigenetic dysregulation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Lena Dennison and Sushmita Mustafi for their assistance. We apologize to our colleagues whose works were not able to cite in this review due to the space limitation. The work on the epigenetic regulation of vitamin C in the Wang lab is supported by Grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01NS089525, R21CA191668) and a James and Esther King Biomedical Research Award (3KN08).

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  1. John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Biomedical Research Building, Rm. 608, 1501 NW 10th Ave, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Vladimir Camarena & Gaofeng Wang

  2. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Gaofeng Wang

  3. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Gaofeng Wang

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  1. Vladimir Camarena
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Correspondence to Gaofeng Wang.

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Camarena, V., Wang, G. The epigenetic role of vitamin C in health and disease. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 73, 1645–1658 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-016-2145-x

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