Canadian Team Finds HIV Drug May Treat Brain Cancer

A team of Canadian researchers just found a potential new weapon against glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, hiding in plain sight on pharmacy shelves.

Scientists at McMaster University and The Hospital for Sick Children uncovered how certain brain cells, once thought to simply support healthy nerves, actually help glioblastoma tumors grow and spread. When they blocked this harmful communication in lab models, cancer growth slowed significantly.

The discovery gets even better. The researchers found that an HIV medication called Maraviroc, already approved and widely used, could be repurposed to disrupt this deadly cell communication.

"Glioblastoma isn't just a mass of cancer cells, it's an ecosystem," says Dr. Sheila Singh, professor of surgery at McMaster University and director of the Centre for Discovery in Cancer Research. Her team decoded how different cells talk to each other within the tumor, revealing a vulnerability that existing medicine might exploit.

The research, published January 21 in the journal Neuron, zeroed in on oligodendrocytes, cells normally responsible for protecting nerve fibers. These cells can switch roles and support tumor growth by sending signals through a receptor called CCR5, the same receptor that Maraviroc already targets in HIV patients.

For glioblastoma patients, this finding offers rare hope. Survival is often measured in months, and treatment options remain painfully limited.

Why This Inspires

Using an existing, approved medication could dramatically speed up the path to new treatments. Instead of developing a drug from scratch, which takes years and billions of dollars, researchers can potentially repurpose Maraviroc much faster.

Dr. Jason Moffat, senior scientist at SickKids, emphasized that uncovering this piece of the cancer's biology opens a promising path forward. The discovery builds on the team's 2024 study that found cancer cells hijack normal brain development pathways for invasion.

Together, these breakthroughs represent a new era in glioblastoma research focused on dismantling the tumor's complex support networks rather than just attacking cancer cells directly. By understanding how the entire ecosystem functions, scientists can identify weak points and target them with precision.

The research received support from the William Donald Nash Brain Tumour Research Fellowship and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, reflecting Canada's commitment to advancing cancer treatment.

This discovery proves that sometimes the next medical breakthrough isn't about inventing something new, but seeing existing tools in a completely different light.