- A combination of two supplements — resveratrol and copper — reduced the aggressiveness of glioblastoma brain tumors in a small new study.
- Glioblastoma is among the most deadly and treatment-resistant cancers.
- The study provides support for the concept of treating and “healing” cancer tumors rather than trying to kill them outright.
- Patients also reported no side effects from the resveratrol/copper treatment.
It may be possible to coax some of the most deadly brain cancer cells into a sort of healing, rather than simply trying — and often failing — to destroy them. This is the finding of a new study from the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer, in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.
The study found that tablets containing resveratrol and copper appeared to positively affect a variety of biomarkers in glioblastoma tumors.
The patients took tablets containing the nutraceuticals four times a day for an average of 11.6 days leading up to previously scheduled surgeries, during which their tumors were removed. They were then compared to tumors from similar glioblastoma patients who did not receive tablets.
The patients taking the tablets reported no side effects.
The researchers’ hypothesis was that the combination of resveratrol and copper would produce oxygen radicals capable of deactivating cell-free chromatin particles released by dying glioblastoma cells. These particles aggravate living glioblastoma cells, making them more destructive.
The treated resveratrol/copper glioblastoma cells exhibited several promising changes:
- Levels of Ki-67 were nearly one-third lower in the treated tumors — Ki67 is a protein that serves as an indicator of the speed at which glioblastoma cells are dividing, and thus the cancer’s aggressiveness.
- A set of nine biomarkers recognized as the “hallmarks of cancer” were detected in 57% fewer cells.
- Six of the body’s immune checkpoints, which inhibit the body from attacking cancer cells, were reduced by 41% in the tumors.
- There was a reduction of 56% in markers linked to stem cells that allow glioblastoma to spread as quickly as it does, and to resist treatment so stubbornly.
“The current treatment policies for glioblastoma, which include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, are not very effective, with many patients dying within 15 months. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, we have attempted, with limited success, to kill cancer cells,” Mittra said.
Walavan Sivakumar, MD, director of neurosurgery at Providence Little Company of Mary in Torrance, CA, who was not involved in the study, painted a similarly dark picture.
Sivakumar said that for glioblastoma, “survival gains have been modest at best, without any ‘silver bullets’ on the horizon.”
“Standard-of-care surgery, radiation, and temozolomide,” he said, “still yield median survival around 12–18 months, with only a small fraction of long-term survivors.”
After millennia of attempting to kill cancer cells, said Mittra, “Perhaps it’s time to adopt a new perspective on cancer treatment, focusing on tumor healing rather than tumor destruction.”
“The concept of healing originated with a 1986 essay in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Harold Dvorak, who suggested that cancer and non-healing wounds are strikingly similar. Indeed, there are many similarities between the two,” he pointed out.
Said Sivakumar, “research increasingly shows that altering cancer behavior — whether via the tumor microenvironment, metabolic pathways, or stress responses — can affect growth and progression.”
“Strategies like differentiation therapy in leukemia and modulation of tumor oxidative stress and signaling pathways, have demonstrated proof-of-concept that modifying cancer biology, rather than only killing cells outright, can be therapeutically valuable,” he noted.
“The goal here is to turn cancer into a chronic disease,” said Sivakumar.
Sivakumar described the study’s novel idea as using resveratrol and copper to “create controlled oxidative stress inside glioblastoma cells.”
“It’s a fundamentally different concept than traditional chemotherapy — it doesn’t rely on directly killing every dividing cell, but on exploiting specific biochemical vulnerabilities. However, these findings are preclinical and not yet validated in patients.”
— Walavan Sivakumar, MD
Nitesh Patel, MD, is co-director of the Neurosurgical Oncology program at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. He described this action as propagating “the known concept of [the] bystander effect: as the resveratrol and copper combo damages one cell, it propagates damage as the dying cells release toxins to promote eradication of other cancer cells.”
“The key finding here,” he said, “is that the study shows that resveratrol can be ‘flipped’ in function and go from an antioxidant to DNA-damaging agent when coupled with copper.”
“I think the study is credible and results should be taken positively,” Patel said, “however, only in the context of opening a new pathway to be studied more extensively.”
Of the current study, Patel said, “Study size is the biggest factor. The study is not a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard. It has a short treatment timeline and no specific endpoints. Further, it assumes some biochemical mechanisms, which is necessary for this type of study.”
Going forward from these early, potentially promising results, “If a larger, randomized, blinded, controlled trial validated these results, it could translate to a big reframe of glioblastoma treatment and provide a low-cost solution for patients,” said Patel.
“These findings encourage us to think beyond traditional cytotoxic approaches. They point to a future where therapies modulate cancer cell biology — inducing dormancy, altering stress responses, or targeting adaptive mechanisms — rather than merely killing cells.”
— Walavan Sivakumar, MD
“Especially for tumors like glioblastoma that resist standard treatments,” according to Sivakumar, “this conceptual shift may open new avenues for combination strategies that enhance efficacy without adding undue toxicity.”