Adding an older chemo drug when a grade 4 brain tumor comes back
Original title: The Efficacy and Safety of Adding Teniposide to Temozolomide Plus Bevacizumab in Recurrent Grade 4 Glioma: A Real-World Exploratory Single-Center Study.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
Doctors looked back at people already treated, so this is not proof yet.
The short version
Doctors looked back at 53 patients and saw extra time with a third drug, but the study was small.
What was studied. Doctors at one hospital in China looked back at records of 53 people whose grade 4 glioma: A tumor that starts in the glial cells. Those are the support cells of the brain and spinal cord. Gliomas are given a grade from 1 to 4. The grade says how the tumor is expected to act. See the glossary came back. 26 added a drug called teniposide 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 and bevacizumab: A drug that acts on the blood vessels a tumor builds. In brain tumors it is used mainly for two things. One is to control symptoms from swelling. The other is to cut down how much steroid someone needs. See the glossary, and 27 took only those two drugs.
What they found. With teniposide, the tumor stayed stable for 7.8 months instead of 5.1 months. People in that group lived 12.7 months, compared with 8.5 months. Tumors shrank in 26.9% of the teniposide group and 14.8% of the other group.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Teniposide is an older chemo drug that is in use again in China. These results hint it may buy some time when a grade 4 tumor returns. Serious side effects were not much higher, 11.5% versus 7.4%. But low white blood cell counts were more common, 26.9% versus 3.7%, so blood counts would need watching.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean teniposide is proven, and it is not a cure. The doctors only looked back at old records at one hospital. The study was small, and the two groups were treated in different years. So the extra time may come from other things, not the drug. The authors say planned trials are needed to know for sure.
Source: PubMed, October 10, 2026 · Read the original
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