Grandmother Beats Brain Cancer Through Stem Cell Clinical Trial

In November 2025, a New Jersey grandmother named Pamela Goldberger shared her inspiring story of overcoming a devastating brain cancer diagnosis through a clinical trial for a stem cell treatment.

Meanwhile, scientists have made an accidental discovery that an existing blood pressure drug called hydralazine could potentially be repurposed to fight cancer. Hydralazine has been used to treat high blood pressure since the 1950s, but researchers have now uncovered that it directly targets a small but crucial enzyme called 2-aminoethanethiol dioxygenase (ADO).

This enzyme acts as a cellular oxygen sensor, helping cancer cells like those found in glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, to survive when oxygen levels are low. By binding to ADO and shutting down this oxygen response system, hydralazine can force cancer cells to stop dividing and enter a dormant state.

While the drug hasn't yet been tested in animals or humans, researchers are hopeful that this discovery could lead to safer and more selective treatments for difficult-to-treat cancers like glioblastoma, which often return even after surgery and chemotherapy.