Blocking a protein called BRD9 made glioblastoma cells easier to kill with radiation
Original title: BRD9 inhibition induces selective radiosensitivity in glioblastoma through MYC pathway modulation
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 on cells in the lab, not in people.
The short version
In lab tests, blocking one protein made brain tumor cells more likely to die from radiation, while healthy brain cells were left alone.
What was studied. Researchers tested many drugs on glioblastoma: The fastest-growing type of glioma (grade 4). Treatment usually starts soon after diagnosis: surgery first, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary cells in the lab while giving the cells a low dose of radiation. They wanted to find which drugs made radiation work better. They used tumor cell lines, tumor cells taken from patients, and healthy human brain cells for comparison.
What they found. Blocking a protein called BRD9 made the tumor cells much more likely to die after radiation. On its own, without radiation, blocking BRD9 did not do much harm to the cells. The tumor cells also took longer to repair the DNA damage that radiation caused. Healthy brain cells were not harmed in the same way. The team also looked at gene activity in groups of glioblastoma: The fastest-growing type of glioma (grade 4). Treatment usually starts soon after diagnosis: surgery first, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary patients. Tumors that had come back had higher levels of BRD9 than tumors seen the first time.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: This points to a possible way to make radiation work better for glioblastoma: The fastest-growing type of glioma (grade 4). Treatment usually starts soon after diagnosis: surgery first, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary. It also hints that the approach might spare healthy brain cells, which matters a lot for side effects. For now this is a lead for researchers to follow, not something a doctor can add to your treatment.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean there is a new treatment. All of the testing was done on cells in the lab, not in people. No one has been treated with this. It is not known if it is safe or if it helps people live longer. It is not a cure, and it is not a promise of one. Work like this takes years, and many lab findings never become treatments.
Source: bioRxiv (preprint), August 11, 2026 · Read the original
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