The research demonstrates in mice that a combination of medications – traditionally used separately to treat lung cancer and arthritis – can destroy glioblastoma.

The combination of these medications disables two proteins responsible for helping the cancer cells survive, providing a therapy that UT Southwestern is working to fast–track for clinical use.

“This could be a groundbreaking treatment. If it works in patients, then it will be an important advance,” said Dr. Amyn Habib, a member of UT Southwestern’s Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The research published in the journal Nature Neuroscience answers a decades–old question of why a treatment that disables a protein common in various cancers has been effective in some forms of lung and colon cancer but not in glioblastoma.

The protein, known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), resides in the tumor cell’s membrane and has been a traditional target for fighting malignant tumors. Dr. Habib’s team found that when doctors use a medication to disable the receptor, a second protein is produced in the brain that takes over the receptor’s function to keep the cancer cell alive.

The study shows that blocking both the receptor and the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) destroys the glioma tumors.

The medications used to disable these proteins are already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including TNF inhibitors used to treat arthritis and other rheumatologic conditions. Dr. Habib said this could speed the effort at UT Southwestern to organize a clinical trial to test the treatment on lung cancer and glioblastoma patients.

“This is a terrific example of research that can be relatively quickly carried into the clinic,” said Dr. Habib, Associate Professor of Neurology & Neurotherapeutics.

UT Southwestern is testing an array of other approaches to improve the prognosis for patients, from protein–inhibiting medications to immunotherapy that uses the body’s immune system to fight the cancer.

Dr. Habib is encouraged by the initial success of his protein–disabling strategy. But he acknowledges a cure may not be imminent because cancers tend to adapt to treatments and find other pathways to thrive if one is blocked. For example, disabling the EGFR protein initially showed success in lung cancer patients, but over time the cells develop resistance to the medication.