In mice, a second drug helped keep a childhood brain tumor from coming back
Original title: Standard treatment against paediatric BRAF-V600E glioma promotes senescence and sensitizes tumours to BCL-xL inhibition.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was done in animals, not people. Most findings at this stage never become treatments.
This was done only in lab cells and in mice, not in people.
The short version
In mice, adding a second drug helped stop a childhood brain tumor from growing back.
What was studied. Researchers tested drugs on lab-grown cells and on mice with a childhood brain tumor. The tumors had a gene change called BRAF-V600E. The team used drugs given to children today, plus a drug called navitoclax.
What they found. Trametinib, one of the drugs used today, did not kill all the tumor cells. It pushed many of them into a sleep-like state instead. Navitoclax cleared out those sleeping cells. Mice that got both drugs had less tumor regrowth after treatment stopped, and they lived longer.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Tumors like this often grow back once treatment ends. This work points to one possible reason why. It also names a drug pair that researchers could test in people later.
What it doesn't mean: This is not care a child can get now. The work was done in cells and in mice, not in people. No child has been given this drug pair in a trial yet. It does not show the pair is safe for children, and it is not a promise of a cure.
Source: PubMed, October 29, 2026 · Read the original
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