A chemical made by gut bacteria slowed brain tumor cells in the lab
Original title: Sodium butyrate inhibits the proliferation of temozolomide-resistant glioblastoma (A172) and lung adenocarcinoma (A549) cells and biphasically regulates EGFR expression
How far along is this research?
This is a preprint. Other scientists have not checked it yet, so treat it as an early signal rather than an answer.
This was done only on cells in dishes, not in people.
The short version
In lab dishes, a gut bacteria chemical slowed brain tumor cells that no longer respond to chemo.
What was studied. Researchers tested sodium butyrate on cancer cells grown in dishes. One kind was glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4. Grade 4 is the highest grade there is. The tumor grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, and then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary cells, the other was lung cancer cells. They also used cells trained to resist the chemo drug temozolomide: A chemotherapy taken as a capsule, used for some brain tumors. Your team checks your blood counts while you are on it. See the glossary.
What they found. Sodium butyrate slowed the growth of both cell types from 0.31 mM. The effect was stronger in the brain tumor cells. The resistant cells did not react to temozolomide: A chemotherapy taken as a capsule, used for some brain tumors. Your team checks your blood counts while you are on it. See the glossary alone, but sodium butyrate at 0.5 and 2.5 mM still slowed them. It also shifted a protein called EGFR, raising it at low doses and lowering it at higher ones.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: This is very early lab work. It raises the idea that sodium butyrate might act on cells even after temozolomide: A chemotherapy taken as a capsule, used for some brain tumors. Your team checks your blood counts while you are on it. See the glossary stops working. No doctor can offer this as a treatment today.
What it doesn't mean: This is not a cure, and it is not a new drug for people. The work was done only on cells in dishes. No person was treated or tested. The amounts used were high, and the authors say that is the main hurdle to using it in people. Nobody should take butyrate or change their care because of this study.
Source: bioRxiv (preprint), October 28, 2026 · Read the original
This plain-language summary was written by AI and published automatically after passing our automatic safety checks. How we write.