By Margherita Bassi Published February 28, 2025 | Comments (0) | An artist's rendering of radiation impacting a glioblastoma cell. Illustration by the Pajonk Lab at UCLA Glioblastoma is the deadliest form of brain cancer. Patients diagnosed with glioblastoma have a median survival time of 15 to 18 months, and standard treatments have remained largely unchanged for two decades: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. A recent study, however, claims to have discovered a potential new therapy with a unique approach. Researchers in Los Angeles have developed a way to force glioblastoma cells into a harmless, non-dividing state by combining radiation therapy with forskolin, a natural product derived from a plant related to mint. As detailed in a study published February 26 in the journal PNAS, laboratory mice with glioblastoma lived longer after being treated with the novel approach, paving the way for a potential future treatment. Glioblastoma is aggressive because its cancer cells divide uncontrollably and can resist treatment or recur after therapy. Additionally, the blood-brain barriera semipermeable membrane that separates blood from cerebrospinal fluidimpairs the effectiveness of cancer therapies. However, previous research has demonstrated that, in addition to eliminating certain glioblastoma cells, radiation appears to briefly make glioma stem cellsa type of glioblastoma cell associated with tumor growth and treatment resistancechangeable, according to the study. Radiation therapy, while effective in killing many cancer cells, also induces a temporary state of cellular flexibility, Frank Pajonk, an oncologist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and senior author on the study, said in a UCLA statement. We found a way to exploit this flexibility by using forskolin to push these cells into a nondividing, neuron-like or microglia-like state. Microglia are a type of immune cells in the central nervous system. The researchers were motivated to investigate the use of forskolin because it promotes the maturation of cellswhen a young and unspecialized cell reaches its mature and specialized forminto neurons. However, glioblastoma cells ability to transform into neuron-like cells was unexpected, given that they are completely different cells that originate from different parts of the body. The adaptation was enabled by the tumors unique environment.Our approach is unique because it leverages the timing and effects of radiation, explained Ling He, also a UCLA oncologist and first author of the study. Unlike traditional therapies that force cancer cells to mature, we use radiation to create a temporary, flexible state, making glioma cells easier to guide into specialized, less harmful types. By adding forskolin at the right moment, we push these cells to become neuron-like or microglia-like, reducing their potential to regrow into tumors. In contrast to cancer cells, neurons do not divide continuously. When the team tested this approach on mice with glioblastoma, they found that forskolin could cross the blood-brain barrier and significantly slow tumor growth. In mice with a highly aggressive form of the cancer, the combination of radiation and forskolin raised the median survival of 34 days with just radiation therapy to 48 days, and in mice with a less aggressive form, the median went from 43.5 days to 129 days. In some mice, it even enabled long-term tumor control.However, other mice experienced a recurrence, leading researchers to emphasize the need for further investigation into forskolins potential as a cancer treatment. Nevertheless, Pajonk concluded that this research offers a promising strategy to disrupt tumor progression and enhance patient survival.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Ed Cara Published February 27, 2025 By Ed Cara Published February 22, 2025 By Ed Cara Published February 5, 2025 By Ed Cara Published February 4, 2025 By Ed Cara Published January 3, 2025 By Ed Cara Published January 2, 2025