Two drugs added to radiation in lab tests for glioblastoma
Original title: Combined HDAC and ATM inhibition with radiation in preclinical glioblastoma models.
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 only done in tumor cells and in mice.
The short version
Scientists tested two drugs with radiation on 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 cells and in mice.
What was studied. Researchers used 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 cells grown from patient tumors. They added two drugs, one that blocks HDAC and one that blocks a DNA repair protein called ATM. The drugs were given with and without radiation. The mix was then tested in mice with brain tumors.
What they found. In the dish, the two drugs together made tumor cells more sensitive to radiation. The HDAC drug turned down genes the cells use to fix broken DNA. In mice, the HDAC drug plus radiation helped them live longer than radiation alone. Adding the ATM drug gave no extra benefit on top of that.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: This shows one possible way to make radiation work better on 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. It is early lab work, so it does not change care right now. No doctor can offer this drug mix today.
What it doesn't mean: This does not mean a new treatment is ready. The work was done in cells in a dish and in mice, not in people. It is not a cure, and it is not proof that these drugs help patients. In mice, the two drug mix was no better than one drug with radiation. Many ideas that work in animals do not work in people.
Source: PubMed, October 7, 2026 · Read the original
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