Glioblastoma treatment strategy reprograms cancer cells, halting tumor growth (Forskolin)

Medical Xpress / University of California, LA / Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ^ | Feb. 26, 2025 | Denise Heady / Ling He et al

[ConservativeMind]

Scientists have identified a potential new strategy for treating glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer, by reprogramming aggressive cancer cells into harmless ones.

The findings demonstrate that combining radiation therapy with a plant-derived compound called forskolin can force glioblastoma cells into a dormant state, making them incapable of dividing or spreading.

When tested in mice, the addition of forskolin to radiation prolonged survival, offering a potential new avenue for combating glioblastoma, a disease with limited treatment options and a median survival time of just 15 to 18 months after diagnosis.

"Radiation therapy, while effective in killing many cancer cells, also induces a temporary state of cellular flexibility," said Dr. Frank Pajonk. "We found a way to exploit this flexibility by using forskolin to push these cells into a non-dividing, neuron-like or microglia-like state."

Recent discoveries suggest that radiation not only kills some glioblastoma cells, but also temporarily makes the glioma stem cells more flexible, or adaptable.

The researchers decided to look at the combination of radiation and forskolin, a drug compound known to influence cell differentiation by promoting the maturation of cells into neurons, which do not divide uncontrollably like cancer cells.

The researchers found that the forskolin was able to cross the blood-brain barrier, significantly depleting glioma stem cells and slowing tumor proliferation.

This approach also significantly slowed tumor growth in mice, and in some cases, led to long-term tumor control. In the highly aggressive and fast-growing model, the combination therapy extended the median survival from 34 days to 48 days. Similarly, in the less aggressive glioma mouse model, the median survival increased to 129 days with the combination treatment, compared to 43.5 days in mice treated with radiation alone. Importantly, the sublethal radiation doses used have minimal effects on their own, noted the researchers.

[ConservativeMind]

Forskolin, an over-the-counter supplement, appears to push some cancer cells into becoming neurons.

[ConservativeMind]

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[sauropod]

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[EC Washington]

I have had three close relatives die from Glioblastoma Cancer - There were treated at some of the top hospitals in the US. Every case we heard the same story from the Doctors - “we are close to finding a drug that will slow the spread of the cancer” There is still no drug that works on stage 4 Glioblastoma. Stage 4 remains a death sentence.

[comebacknewt]

I am so sorry to hear about your family passing.

Sadly, stage 4 of virtually every cancer is still a death sentence.