The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate that combining radiation therapy with a plant-derived compound called forskolin can force glioblastoma cells into a dormant state, making them incapable of dividing or spreading.

When tested in mice, the addition of forskolin to radiation prolonged survival, offering a potential new avenue for combating glioblastoma, a disease with limited treatment options and a median survival time of just 15 to 18 months after diagnosis.

“Radiation therapy, while effective in killing many cancer cells, also induces a temporary state of cellular flexibility,” said Dr. Frank Pajonk, professor of radiation oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study’s senior author. “We found a way to exploit this flexibility by using forskolin to push these cells into a non-dividing, neuron-like or microglia-like state.”