Scientists Find a Weak Spot in Glioblastoma, One of the Deadliest Brain Cancers

Glioblastoma is among the most lethal forms of cancer, and treatment options have changed relatively little because tumors frequently withstand both radiation and chemotherapy. Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute have identified a protein called SET as a possible target that could make glioblastoma cells easier to kill with existing therapies.

The team focused on PP2A, an enzyme involved in regulating signals that cancer cells use to grow, survive and recover from treatment-related damage. Glioblastoma cells appear to interfere with PP2A using three proteins, ANP32A, CIP2A and SET. When researchers blocked these proteins in laboratory and animal models, fewer cancer cells survived, and the remaining cells became more vulnerable to radiation; in preclinical experiments, suppressing SET alone prevented tumors from developing.

"Glioblastoma is hard to treat because it can adapt and survive," said Arnab Chakravarti, chair of radiation oncology at the OSUCCC-James. "Our findings suggest that restoring PP2A activity may make glioblastoma cells less able to survive treatment." The researchers also tested an FDA-approved antipsychotic drug capable of increasing PP2A activity, though they caution it is not ready to be used as a glioblastoma treatment outside a clinical trial.

The results remain preliminary and have not yet been evaluated in patients. The study was published in the May 2026 issue of Cancer Letters and was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.