Lowering a protein called GOLPH3 slowed glioblastoma cells in the lab
Original title: GOLPH3 depletion in glioblastoma cells promotes anti-tumor effects and neuronal differentiation by affecting mTOR signaling.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was done on cells in a lab, not in people. It is a very early step.
This was only done in tumor cells grown in the lab, not in people.
The short version
In lab dishes, turning down one protein made brain tumor cells stop growing and start acting more like normal nerve cells.
What was studied. Researchers worked with 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 grown in the lab. They used one common cell line called U87MG and three glioblastoma stem cell lines, one for each of the three main molecular types of the tumor. They lowered the amount of a protein called GOLPH3 and watched what happened.
What they found. When GOLPH3 was lowered, the U87MG tumor cells stopped multiplying as much. The cells aged and began to look and behave more like nerve cells. Lowering GOLPH3 also reduced the activity of a cell growth system called mTOR, in both the U87MG cells and one of the stem cell lines, BT379. The different cell types did not all respond the same way to blocking mTOR or to the chemotherapy drug temozolomide.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: GOLPH3 may be a weak spot in glioblastoma: The fastest-growing type of glioma (grade 4). Treatment usually starts soon after diagnosis: surgery first, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary that future drugs could aim at. It may also help explain why the same treatment does not work the same way in every person's tumor. For now this is a lead for researchers to follow, not a treatment.
What it doesn't mean: This was done in cells growing in a dish. No people were treated and no one was helped by it yet. There is no drug you can ask for that does this. Work like this is at the earliest stage, and most early lab findings never become a treatment. This is not a cure and it is not a promise of one.
Source: PubMed, July 29, 2026 · Read the original
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