Gabapentin Offers New Hope for Glioblastoma Treatment in Phoenix, AZ

The Challenge of Glioblastoma

An illustration of a human brain, highlighting areas of neural activity in orange. Researchers have discovered that glioblastoma tumors can hijack neural circuits to fuel their growth, which helps explain why these brain tumors are so aggressive.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and deadly primary brain tumor in adults. It is a highly aggressive cancer with about 12,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the United Statesmassgeneralbrigham.org. Despite standard treatments – such as surgery to remove the tumor, followed by radiation and chemotherapy – the prognosis for GBM has barely improved in decades. Most patients live only around 12 to 14 months after initial diagnosis, and about 5 to 6 months after a recurrencemassgeneralbrigham.org. This relentless disease is nearly universally fatal, underscoring the urgent need for new therapies and innovative approaches to care.

One reason GBM is so difficult to treat is its tendency to invade surrounding brain tissue and even interact with normal brain cells. The tumor creates microscopic connections with healthy brain tissue, making complete surgical removal almost impossible and allowing cancer cells to spread. Traditional treatments (like chemotherapy and radiation) target the tumor cells directly, but GBM’s invasive nature and cellular diversity often mean that some cells evade these therapies. This has led researchers and clinicians to think more creatively about emerging biology in these tumorsmassgeneralbrigham.org. In recent years, a new field called cancer neuroscience has begun shedding light on how brain tumors exploit neural networks – essentially hijacking the brain’s own wiring – to support tumor growthmassgeneralbrigham.org. These insights are opening the door to novel treatment strategies that go beyond conventional oncology approaches.

Gabapentin and Brain Cancer: A Surprising Connection

Scientists studying GBM have discovered that neuron–glioma interactions play a pivotal role in tumor progressiondx.doi.org. In normal brain development, nerve cells communicate and form networks with the help of certain proteins that promote synapse formation (connections between neurons). One such protein is thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), which helps neurons form new synaptic connections and remodel neural circuitsdx.doi.org. Unfortunately, GBM tumors can hijack this protein to help weave themselves into the brain’s neural network, effectively “rewiring” the brain in a way that promotes tumor growthneurosciencenews.com. High levels of TSP-1 in the tumor environment have been associated with faster tumor progression and poorer survival in GBM patientsdx.doi.org.

Gabapentin – a medication originally developed to prevent seizures and relieve nerve pain – entered the GBM story because of its effect on TSP-1. Gabapentin is known to bind to a receptor subunit on neurons that TSP-1 interacts with. In essence, gabapentin can block the activity of TSP-1, preventing it from forming new tumor-fueling synaptic connections. A breakthrough study in 2023 identified TSP-1 as a key driver of neuron–tumor interactions in gliomasneurosciencenews.com. In mouse models of glioblastoma, researchers found they could slow tumor growth by using gabapentin to inhibit this TSP-1 mediated “neural wiring” between tumor cells and neuronsneurosciencenews.com. This discovery suggested a potential therapeutic strategy: repurpose an existing neurological drug to disrupt the cancer’s support system.

What makes gabapentin particularly intriguing is that it’s already an FDA-approved drug with a favorable safety profile (it’s widely used for epilepsy and neuropathic pain). Many GBM patients are prescribed anti-seizure medications as part of their care (since brain tumors can cause seizures), and gabapentin is one of the common options. The idea that this routine medication might double as a cancer-fighting tool was unexpected – a surprising connection between gabapentin and brain cancer treatment. Given gabapentin’s long track record in patients, doctors and researchers grew excited about the possibility that it could be quickly repurposed to help fight GBM, provided that research supports its benefits.

Key Research Findings: Gabapentin and Glioblastoma Survival

A recent study led by investigators at Mass General Brigham (published in Nature Communications in 2025) looked at real-world patient data to see if gabapentin use correlated with better outcomes in GBM. The researchers retrospectively analyzed two independent groups of patients with glioblastoma – one from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and another from UCSF in California – totaling over 1,000 patientsneurosciencenews.comneurosciencenews.com. Here are the key findings from this research:

• Extended Survival: GBM patients who were on gabapentin survived 4–6 months longer on average than those who were not taking gabapentinneurosciencenews.com. In the Mass General Brigham cohort of 693 patients, those on gabapentin lived about 16 months after diagnosis versus 12 months for those not on the drugneurosciencenews.com. Similarly, at UCSF, 379 newly diagnosed GBM patients on gabapentin lived ~20.8 months versus 14.7 months for those not taking itneurosciencenews.com. This translated to a roughly four to six-month survival advantage in both groups, which is a significant gain for this tough disease neurosciencenews.comneurosciencenews.com.

• Lower TSP-1 Levels: Patients receiving gabapentin had markedly lower levels of TSP-1 in their blood compared to those not on the drugneurosciencenews.com. TSP-1 is the protein that aids tumor-neuron connectivity. The fact that gabapentin users showed reduced TSP-1 suggests that the medication was indeed impacting the tumor’s biology, aligning with the proposed mechanism (gabapentin blocking TSP-1 activity)neurosciencenews.com. In other words, the patients on gabapentin not only lived longer, but also showed biochemical signs that the drug might be hindering the tumor’s pro-growth signals.

• Consistent Results Across Large Dataset: These findings were replicated in over 1,000 patients across two major medical centersneurosciencenews.com. The multi-institutional nature of the study adds weight to the results. Initially, the survival benefit observed at Mass General Brigham was met with cautious optimism – it seemed “almost too good to be true,” as lead author Dr. Joshua Bernstock put itneurosciencenews.com. However, when the UCSF data showed the same trend, it validated the signal. In total, 1,072 GBM patients were analyzed between the two cohorts, and gabapentin’s association with longer survival held true across this broad populationneurosciencenews.com.

Notably, many patients in these studies were taking gabapentin for reasons unrelated to cancer – typically for managing nerve pain or seizures that often accompany brain tumorsneurosciencenews.com. This provided a natural comparison group. Researchers controlled for various factors (like age, other treatments, and overall health) to ensure that the survival benefit was truly linked to gabapentin use and not some other difference between the patient groups

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