A lab drug slowed glioblastoma cells grown in a dish
Original title: Herboxidiene and EGFR expression in A172 glioblastoma cells
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 only done in cells in a lab dish.
The short version
This was a test on cells in a lab dish, not in people.
What was studied. Researchers tested a drug called herboxidiene on A172 cells, a type of 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 cell grown in a lab. They wanted to see if it lowered a protein called EGFR, which helps drive this tumor.
What they found. Untreated cells grew to 2.32 times their day 0 level by day 3. Cells given the drug stayed at or below their starting level. The amount of EGFR also fell, and one form of it dropped to 0.30 of the untreated level at the highest dose.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Nothing for patient care right now. It gives scientists a lead to look into further. The team also said that lower EGFR did not fully explain why the cells stopped growing.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean a new treatment. The work was done only in cells in a dish, not in people or in animals. Some of the tests were run just once, with no repeats, and the authors call those results preliminary. It is not a cure, and it is far from care a doctor can offer today.
Source: bioRxiv (preprint), November 3, 2026 · Read the original
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